





'/- 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



\ ^ 



HINTS 



MISSIONS TO INDIA: 



NOTICES OF SOME PROCEEDINGS 



DEPUTATION FROM THE AMERICAN BOARD, 



REPORTS TO IT FROM THE MISSIONS. 



By MIRON WINSLOW, 

MISSIONARY AT MADEAS. 




NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 

BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL. 



185.6. _ 



•3V 



*,><> f 



^<° 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1556. by 

M . W . D O D D , 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of 

New York. 



STEREOTYPED BY PR1XTED BY 

THOMAS B. SMITH, E . O . J E X K. I X I 

82 & 84 Beekman Street 24 Frankfort St. 



PREFACE. 

The writer of the following pages left his native land 
in June, 1819, and went as a missionary to Ceylon. 
Having buried there his beloved wife, he returned to Amer- 
ica with three daughters, in 1834 ; and after a short visit 
at home, resumed his labors among the heathen. Going 
first to Ceylon, he was, with his brother-in-law, Dr. 
Scudder, sent by the mission, with the sanction of the Pru- 
dential Committee, to Madras, to commence a mission in 
that city, among a people speaking the same language with 
that to which he had been accustomed in North Ceylon. 

A large printing establishment was taken from the 
Church Missionary Society, schools in the vernaculars, 
and in those with English, were formed ; regular preach- 
ing at the stations, and in the streets and schools, was 
maintained ; two church-buildings were erected ; more 
than one hundred were from time to time gathered from 
among the natives into the church, and the work in 
other respects — including aid in the translation of the 
Scriptures, and preparing and sending forth tracts and 
books — was carried on with encouraging success, by the 
original founders of the mission, and a part of the time 
by other brethren. These were the Eev. Messrs. Hutch- 
ings, H. M. Scudder, Ward, Dullis, Hurd, and Mr. Hunt. 
Messrs. Hutchings, Ward, and Dullis returned to Amer- 
ica, on account of failure of health, after a snort period 
of labor ; Mr. H. M. Scudder removed ere long to Arcot, 
Dr. Scudder died in 1855 ; and the writer left on account 



IV PREFACE. 

of ill-health, near the end of the same year. Messrs. 
Hunt and Hurd only remain in the mission. 

On the passage home, by way of England, this little 
book was composed, as a sort of digest of experience 
and observation, for nearly thirty-seven years ; with the 
double hope of assisting those who may be considering 
the question of personal devotement to a mission in 
India, and of aiding the supporters of such a mission in its 
intelligent support and direction. It was written without 
any knowledge of the discussion before the American 
Board in Utica, and previous, of course, to the special 
meeting in Albany. Yery little has been added since, 
and no modifications of any importance have been made. 

The Deputation, whose doings in some departments 
are examined — it is hoped with proper respect and 
candor — discouraged schools for heathen children, es- 
pecially under unevangelized teachers ; the teaching of 
English, except as a classic, and to Christian youth ; the 
continuance of missionaries in the pastoral office, after 
they may have opportunity to demit it in favor of native 
pastors; and employing the printing establishments in 
any other than vernacular work. They encouraged the 
formation of rural congregations and churches with a 
native pastor, though a very small number only might 
be at first collected ; the early separation of the mission- 
ary from the pastoral duties, so that he might itinerate 
more abroad ; and they would confine almost all teach- 
ing — whether in theology, medicine, or science — to the 
vernaculars. The principle adopted, seems to have been 
that it is necessary to conform to the apostolic practice, 
and to seek immediate, rather than far reaching re- 
sults ; to secure actual success, though on a small scale, 
rather than progress in a merely preparatory work, 
however great or promising. 



PREFACE. V 

They also advised the missions to allow a correspond- 
ence with the secretaries in Boston on the affairs of the 
mission, without, as they had before done, giving then- 
brethren the opportunity to read such letters ; and that 
the missions, as such, though composed in part of lay- 
men, should act in an ecclesiastical capacity, without the 
formality of instituting any other body ; as being qualified 
by their commission to do whatever may be necessary for 
the introduction of Christianity into a heathen land and 
providing for it Christian ordinances. Most of the above 
particulars are in some form alluded to, in these pages. 

What may be called the school question, is more espe- 
cially kept in mind — whether schools can be properly 
used among the heathen as converting agencies ; 
whether the English language, and western science 
should be taught with that view under any circum- 
stances; whether English is needed by any class of 
native ministers ; whether heathen children should be 
taught Christianity, even in the vernaculars, if brought 
together for secular instruction by heathen teachers ; 
whether such schools in the vernaculars, or high schools 
in English, or boarding schools, either for boys or girls 
(the Female Boarding-school at Oodooville being an 
example of the latter) are helps or hindrances — these 
and other particulars, are considered. 

May the Holy Spirit direct to a right understanding 
of these and other important and connected subjects, and 
enable all interested in them to decide how far " the 
machinery of missions" may be so worked, as most effec- 
tually, to extend and establish the Redeemer's kingdom. 

THE AUTHOR. 
New York, April 25, 1856. 

1* 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preliminary Remarks 7 

Inducements of the Field 37 

Obstacles 39 

Personal Duty 51 

What Constitutes a Call to the Missionary "Work 53 

Qualifications .62 

Departure 79 

Passage 83 

Arrival 85 

Preservation of Health 90 

Commencing Labors 93 

Acquiring the Language 95 

Organization 97 

Forms of Labor 104 

Preaching 106 

Schools 125 

Press .......... 190 

Formation of Congregations . . . -. .194 

Native Ministry 201 

Formation of Churches .205 

Family Religion 215 

Ecclesiastical Organization 217 

Conclusion 221 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

Some account of the perishing state of the 
heathen, and other unevangelized nations — es- 
pecially of the Hindus — and some abstract, at 
least, of the obligations lying on Christians to 
send them the Grospel, would seem to form a 
proper introduction to this little volume. But 
to attempt a description of the degraded state 
of the Hindus, even as to this world — to depict 
their physical wants, arising not from insalu- 
brity of climate, nor sterility of soil, nor a de- 
fective government, but from moral causes— 
especially the destructive influences of idola- 
try — and to show their religious and social de- 
fects, the prevalence of untruth and impuri- 
ty, the absence of all proper views of a super- 
intending Providence; and their consequent 
bondage to superstition, to a belief in witch- 
craft, fear of signs, and omens, and of death ; 



8 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

the ignorance and degradation of the females, 
and deficiency in domestic happiness ; and to 
describe the untoward influences which caste, 
custom, and a false religion exert upon them — 
would require not an introductory essay, but 
many chapters. 

To do what is more essential to the object pro- 
posed, consider the prospects of the Hindus 
for eternity, and to present, even briefly, all 
the arguments which go to prove that they are 
" without God, and without hope in the world," 
and destined, if not relieved, to endless misery — 
would require much space. Something, how- 
ever, may be said, without attempting to ex- 
haust the subject, and without allowing that 
the obligation of Christians to extend to them 
the blessings of the Gospel, depends, even 
principally, on sympathy for their lost state, 
or love for their immortal souls. There is a 
higher argument than this, to which attention 
should be mainly directed : even sympathy 
with the Saviour in the travail of his soul for 
a lost world, and his express command, which 
no plea of the favorable condition of the 
heathen as to this world, or their salvable 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 9 

state as to the world to come, can evade. Let 
us then briefly consider the future prospects 
of the Hindus, and the influence which these 
ought to have upon a Christian mind ; and the 
obligations which lie upon the Church from 
the injunctions of the Saviour, to extend to 
all the blessings of the Gospel. 

It is certain that the Hindus are sinners, and 
by nature without that holiness which alone 
can fit them for heaven. The Apostle Paul 
says, " The Scripture hath concluded all under 
sin ;" and also, " We have before proved both 
Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin." 
The character of the whole heathen world, and 
of the Hindus as accurately as any other, is 
given in the first chapter to the Eomans, the 
climax of which is, they not only do those 
things worthy of death, but " have pleasure 
in them that do them." They are therefore 
under condemnation : they will not indeed be 
condemned for rejecting a Saviour of whom they 
have not heard, but for sinning against the light 
they have — the light of nature and of con- 
science. "We are told that " having not the law, 
they are a law unto themselves" — "Because, 



10 PEELIMIN T AEY REMAEKS. 

that which may be known of God is manifest 
in them. For the invisible things of Him, 
from the beginning of the world, are clearly 
seen, being understood by the things that are 
made, even his eternal power and Godhead ; 
so that they are without excuse ; because that 
when they knew God, they glorified Him not 
as God, neither were thankful." The same 
apostle also teaches us that "they who are 
without law, shall perish without law." 

If there be any salvation for the heathen, as 
a body, it is not revealed in the Bible ; and 
tremendous, yea insupportable — if fully com- 
prehended — as the thought is, that twenty mil- 
lions from the whole world, and nearly five 
millions from India alone, go year by year un- 
prepared into eternity, there seems no way of 
evading it. Those who can take a brighter 
view of their case, who can fancy that they 
who are unholy and without any relish for 
holiness, may yet go to heaven — though our 
Saviour has said, " These shall go away into 
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
life eternal," using — -as it is in the original — 
the same word in both cases, making the hap- 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 11 

piness of the righteous and the misery of the 
wicked to run parallel — are bound to show 
some plain reason, or Scripture, lor their belief 
that all will yet be saved. We need not deny 
that, if among the Hindus, or other heathens, 
there were a disposition to receive Christ when 
made known to them, they might be saved ; but 
if all observation is to be believed, such cases, 
if they exist, must be very rare — too few at all 
to affect the general argument that the heathen 
are in a perishing state without the Gospel. 

There is a mystery in the dealings of 
God with the heathen world. He delayed 
for four thousand years to send the promised 
seed of the v^oman, and left the greater part 
of men in ignorance of those prophecies and 
types and shadows of the Saviour, which were 
given to the Jews. No doubt it was in part 
to show us the necessity of a revelation from 
Himself, and that man " cannot, by searching, 
find out God ;" that the world, by wisdom 
could not know Him aright, could not learn 
the real nature and the true wants of man, or 
the wav of salvation. "The times of that 
ignorance God winked at." He allowed it for 



12 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

wise purposes, unknown to us, and we are sure 
that He will do no injustice to those who were 
thus left in comparative ignorance. That they 
were not guiltless, is certain, for the Psalmist 
prays, " Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen, 
and upon the families that have not 1 called 
upon thy name." And it is written, "The 
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the 
nations that forget God ;" and " He that knew 
not his Lord's will, and still did things worthy 
of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.' 7 
Our Saviour also, when He declared, concern- 
ing Capernaum, "It shall be more tolerable 
for the land of Sodom in the judgment, than 
for thee," implies that the Sodomites would 
suffer, though less than those remaining im- 
penitent under greater light. "If the mighty 
works which have been done in thee, had been 
done in Sodom, it would have remained." 
The mighty works were not done, and it did 
not remain, but was " set forth for an example, 
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." 

The doctrine that all the ancient heathen 
were saved, because they did not sin against 
such light as the Jews did, would imply either 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS, 13 

that the j did not sin against light at all ; or 
that they repented ; or that they were saved in 
their sins, because sins of ignorance. The two 
first of these will be discarded by every sober 
mind. Were they then all saved in their sins ? 
Were the inhabitants of the old world all 
taken to heaven by a flood, except Noah, who 
was left— because he walked with God— to a 
longer pilgrimage upon the earth? Were the 
inhabitants of Sodom taken into bliss in a 
chariot of fire and brimstone, while Lot was 
left to seek refuge in a mountain ? These as- 
sertions could hardly find believers anywhere, 
and we must be content to leave the untaught 
heathen in the hands of a holy and just God. 
As there was no command under the Patri- 
archal, or Mosaic dispensation, for believers to 
go into all the world and proclaim the love of 
God to their fellow-sinners, the Church stood 
in a different relation to the Gentile nations from 
what it now does. Whatever be the fate of 
those who were left without a revelation then f 
or whatever shall be the fate of those who are 
now in the dark parts of the earth, Christians 

are bound to exert themselves to save them. 
2 



14 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

" If they are drawn unto death/' there will be 
guilt on the part of those who could, but did 
not, stretch out a hand for their relief. 

In some important sense, God did what He 
could for the ancient world. He did what, all 
things considered, He saw best for the display 
of his own glorious attributes, without which 
the universe could not attain the highest degree 
of happiness, while He left the Gentiles, in 
great part, to the light of nature and tradition, 
and gave his laws to the Jews with burden- 
some rules and ceremonies. Concerning the 
latter, He says, " What could have been done 
more to my vineyard, that I have not done 
in it ? Wherefore, when I looked that it should 
have brought forth grapes, brought it forth 
wild grapes?" 

Under the Christian dispensation, this ex- 
postulation would seem to be still more appro- 
priate and affecting. Not only is ample provi- 
sion made for the salvation of all the nations, 
but there is an express command to the Church 
to make it known. " Go ye into all the world 
and preach the Gospel to every creature." 
"Let him that heareth say, Come." The Bread 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 15 

of Life is intrusted to some for the benefit of all ; 
not for them only, to feast upon, or form into 
articles of luxury, while others starve. This 
were a breach of trust ; this were a dishonest 
administration of the testament of our Lord 
and Saviour, to the disinheriting of the help- 
less portion of the human family. And is no 
Christian guilty of such appropriation to him- 
self of what belongs in part to another ? 

Had the Lord Jesus committed to angels 
the privilege of making known his rich legacy, 
to all the nations of the earth, it would have 
been done without delay ; were it possible for 
them to suffer in doing it, they would have 
" gloried in tribulations also." Nothing would 
have hindered their untiring zeal, until peace on 
earth and good- will to men had been pro- 
claimed to every son and daughter of Adam. 
But men were commissioned to make this 
known to their fellow-men, who were perish- 
ing for lack of knowledge, and they have 
left souls to perish, generation after generation ; 
and there seems but little promise of any bet- 
ter state of things. The Lord Jesus has waited, 
in vain, to see his ascending command obeyed. 



16 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

He has done what He could, consistently with 
his perfections, but the world is still lying in 
the arms of the wicked one, and liberty is 
not proclaimed to the captive. Is it necessary 
for the Lord Jesus to come again in person to 
do this ? Shame on the Church, if it can not 
fulfill its easy commission. 

Let it be borne in mind that while souls 
perish, souls of more value than the material 
universe, all things are ready on God's part for 
their salvation, and that the fault is with his 
people ; that because of the unbelief, inactivity 
and self-indulgence of the Churchy "the dark 
places of the earth are full of the habitations 
of cruelty," and immortal souls go from them, 
in constant succession, to the regions of never- 
ending despair. 

Suppose a kind-hearted man were standing 
by the Falls of Niagara, and should see men, 
women, and children, come tumbling along the 
rapids above ; some in the water, dead ; some 
alive and struggling, some on logs ; some on 
planks, and 'some in frail boats or larger ves- 
sels, all hurried on to the cataract, shrieking 
from a sense of danger, or unconscious, or 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 17 

laughing at the rapidity of the motion when 
drawing near the final leap, or carousing with 
each other in thoughtless mirth, till at the last 
instant — seeing where they are — they raise an 
unearthly cry of terror, as they plunge down — 
shrieking and struggling — the awful descent, 
at the rate of one every second, hour after 
hour, and day after day ; would he not sicken 
at the sight, and ask with horror, What is the 
cause of this awful destruction ? Can it not be 
stayed ? He is told that it might be, were the 
people on the lakes and rivers above warned 
of the danger of coming this way on their ex- 
cursions of pleasure or business ; or of the 
hazard of slipping into the river, or going into 
it to bathe, or for any purpose, near the rapids ; 
but although the population on the banks was 
said to be very great, and that there were large 
lakes just above, covered with boats used in 
fishing, and vessels of every kind ; also that 
intoxicating liquors were sold all along the 
banks, and that many went into the river intox- 
icated, and sometimes pushed each other in, yet 
none knew or believed that there were any falls 
below the rapids, for none ever came back to tell 

9* 



18 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

them. If this benevolent stranger should then 
ask, Why, then, are they not warned ? and the 
reply should be, The people around this place, 
who know the danger, do not trouble them- 
selves about it; they have no time to go and 
give the needed information, and do not like 
to meddle with other people's affairs ; would 
he not think, this is strange, passing strange, 
and incredible ? No doubt it would be incred- 
ible. Such a state of things, though thus sup- 
posed, cannot in fact be conceived of as ac- 
tually existing ; and yet, not human bodies, but 
never-dying souls are hurrying into the gulf 
of eternity, at this rate — that is, one every 
second — from the whole world, and nearly fif- 
teen everj r minute from India! and yet, who 
goes forth to proclaim the danger ? Let us take 
a case that is a possible case, where the affec- 
tions are concerned, and sympathy is excited. 
It is not half a century since the Algerines, 
and other Barbary States, sometimes attacked 
and plundered vessels, and took the crews and 
passengers as slaves. A vessel from one of 
the New England ports, on board of which, 
among others, are four young persons from a 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 19 

flourishing village in the vicinity of that port, 
on their way to Europe, is attacked by an Al- 
gerine pirate ; and, though in consequence of 
another vessel heaving in sight, the pirates are 
obliged to flee before they have completed 
their work, they take with them two of 
these 3 7 oung persons, a brother and sister; 
the other two, who were also a brother and 
sister, escape by secreting themselves. 

Ere long the news of this sad event reaches 
New England, and by an error in reporting 
their names, a substantial farmer and his wife 
are informed that their son and daughter are 
slaves in Algiers. Their grief is very great, 
and their thoughts, naturally and properly, 
turn on the means of immediate emancipation. 
Money must be raised at once. The farmer, 
more prudent, or less earnest, than his wife, 
talks of getting what he can from sale of stock, 
etc., in addition to his ready money, and then 
waiting to borrow or beg enough to make up 
the needed sum ; but, this good wife and mother 
will not think of an hour's delay. She wishes 
at once to sell or mortgage their property, and 
give all they possess, rather than the loved 



20 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

ones should remain, in slavery a single 'day 
after they could be rescued. Soon, however, 
correct intelligence is brought, and it is not 
their son and daughter, but the son and 
daughter of a poor widow in the neighbor- 
hood who were taken captive, while their 
children escaped. On hearing this, the farmer 
says, " Ah ; this alters the case ; it is not our 
children who are in slavery." " No," says 
the wife, " but the children of our neighbor, 
and as we had arranged to get the means of 
liberating our own, I think we should do 
something for hers." " Oh, yes," he replied, 
" I think we should. The mother is poor, 
and cannot do much herself, we must help 
her a little." " Help her a little ? I do not 
mean that, but help her a good deal. Do as 
we would be done by." "Well, yes, I mean 
to do as I would be done by. I will give a 
few dollars, and speak with some of the neigh- 
bors about a subscription, and in a month or 
two enough may be raised here and else- 
where." " My dear husband, what do you 
say, give a few dollars, talk with the neigh- 
bors, and wait a month or two ? Is this doing 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 21 

as we would be done by ? I am sure it is not 
doing as we intended to do by our own." 
"No, not exactly; we have our own still to 
care for." " True, I would not forget that. 
We may not be called to give up every thing, 
as we might be for our own children ; but I 
think we ought to make some sacrifices." 
" Yes, I am willing to do what I can without 
too much inconvenience, from thankfulness 
that our own children escaped." " Inconve- 
nience ! I think if much inconvenience would 
shorten the slavery of these poor things a sin- 
gle week, I would undergo it. Inconvenience ! 
They must find it very inconvenient to be 
slaves, and we ought to sympathize with them 
and their afflicted mother; We will raise all 
we can at once. You can give, not a few dol- 
lars, but a few hundred, without ' too much in- 
convenience.' It will only do you good to 
open your heart wide, and your hand too. I 
will beg for them. A picture shall be made 
of the brother — with nothing on but trowsers — 
chained to a galley oar ; and the sister working 
in the fields in the sun — without shoes or bon- 
net, and with very little clothing — and I will 



22 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

go round with it to make collections without 
delay." " Well, wife, perhaps you are right. 
I do not know as we should hug our paltry 
dollars so much, when misery can be relieved 
by them." " Hug them! I think they would 
scorch us if we did. Why all will soon be 
burned up. My dear husband, we must be 
more like God, and know the delight of doing 
good. I have been thinking, since this has 
taken place, of the millions in slavery, both 
sou] and body, to Satan in heathen lands, who 
are carried down one after another by him 
every day, and every hour, and every minute, 
perhaps, to the dungeon of despair, and I 
think we ought to have more of the spirit of 
Jesus, who died to save them. I am almost 
ashamed of being called a Christian — which 
means being like Christ — while I am so little 
as He was." 

Now w T ill any one say that this good woman 
felt too strongly for the young persons thus 
enslaved, or was wrong in thinking, if she 
thus cared for her neighbors, she ought to 
care also for the heathen ? Sure it is if we 
would know the true use of money, or time, 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 23 

or influence, or any power we have, we must 
be like the Lord Jesus, " who came to seek 
and to save that which was lost." 

An English bishop, in one of the colonies, 
in a printed journal says, " I read the follow- 
ing passage upon a scrap of an American Mis- 
sionary Intelligencer, which I had picked up 
somewhere on my travels. It was the report 
of a colporteur, who was describing to his em- 
ployers the manner in which he conducted his 
ministry, entering first one house, and then 
another, and distributing according to the ne- 
cessities of each. In one, for instance, he would 
find the people careless and negligent in di- 
vine things, and then he would talk to them 
about the heathen, and what would become of 
them ; and would ask them what would become 
of themselves. If they lived like heathen, 
they would perish like those heathen, and 
their children, about whom they thought so 
much, would twine about them, like creepers 
on a gnarled oak, and they would burn — burn 
— burn on forever." 

1 'Here is another passage from the correspond- 
ence of a missionarj^. Speaking of the heathen. 



24 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

the writer says, ' Every hour, every moment 
they are dying, and dying most of them with- 
out any knowledge of the Saviour. On whom 
now rests the responsibility ? If you fail to do 
all in your power to save them, will you stand 
at the judgment guiltless of their blood? 
Said a heathen child, after having embraced 
the Gospel, to the writer, 'How long have 
they had the Gospel in New England?' 
When told, she asked with great earnestness, 
' Why did they not come and tell us before V 
and then added, 'My mother died, and my 
father died without the Gospel. 7 Here she 
was unable to restrain her emotions, but at 
length wiping away her tears, she asked, 
'Where do you think they are gone?' I, 
too, could not refrain from weeping, and turn- 
ing to her, I inquired, ' Where do you, think 
they have gone?' She hesitated a few mo- 
ments, and then replied, with much emotion, 
' I suppose they have gone down to the dark 
place — the dark place. Oh, why did they not 
tell us before?' It wrung my heart as she 
repeated the question, ' Why did they not tell 
us before ?' " 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 25 

The bishop enters his protest against this 
view of the condition of the heathen, and adds, 
" Why, if such be indeed the condition of the 
heathen world, how can a Christian comforta- 
bly eat butter with his bread, ride in a car- 
riage, wear a fine nap upon his coat, or enjoy 
one of the commonest blessings of daily life ? 
What a monster of selfishness that man must 
be who could endure the thought of ease or 
enjoyment in body or soul for himself, while 
such was the possible destiny of so many mil- 
lions of his fellow-men, simply because they 
knew not, had not heard of that Name of 
love, and the hope of life eternal." 

The case as stated by the bishop, is certainly 
very strong, and it would seem impossible that 
Christians could be at ease if they thought the 
heathen perishing, at least through their neg- 
lect. But are they not perishing ? Compared 
with the inhabitants of this land, they cer- 
tainly are, even if there be no future world ; 
and if there be an eternity of misery for the 
unholy — and most of them are such — what lan- 
guage can describe the perishing state of these 
never-dying souls ? Will any then say, " Be it 
3 



26 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

so that they are perishing, it is not through 
our neglect ?" Yes, if you are not doing all in 
your power to save them. All things are ready 
fc on God's part, and the failure is with his peo- 
ple. If you are not straining every nerve to 
the last hair's breadth of effort, to send them 
the Gospel, by giving of your substance, or 
your children, or going yourself, and also agon- 
izing in prayer for them, their misery will lie, 
in part, at your door ; and the blood of souls 
may be found in your skirts. 

Our blessed Saviour said, to the Father, in 
praying for his followers : "This is life eternal, 
that they might know Thee, the only true God, 
and Jesus. Christ, whom Thou hast sent." If 
then this knowledge be life eternal, does not 
the want of it expose the heathen to death eter- 
nal? Christ also said, " But he that knew not 
his Lord's will, and did commit things worthy 
of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes." 

There is something inexpressibly affecting, 
if we could properly understand it, in the fact 
that the heathen are perishing through the 
neglect of the Church — that Christ has done 
all that He can do for them consistently with 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 27 

his perfections, and now waits for His people 
to do their part ; and that, while He thus waits, 
"the god of this world" continues his cruel 
reign, souls are lost, and the Saviour yearns 
to see the travail of his soul, and to be satis- 
fied. Oh, where is to be found the sympathy 
that there ought to be with Him in this travail 
of his soul for a lost world ? Where is there 
that constraining love for Him, that absorbing, 
transforming affection, which all should feel ? 
Where is there a proper regard for his glory, a 
proper sense of stewardship for Him, a hearty 
and unreserved obedience to his command ? 

Here at least we come upon solid ground. 
There is no debating as to the duty of the 
Church, and the consequent duty of every 
member, to send abroad the Gospel. It is not 
left to our perverted judgment as to its neces- 
sity ; or to our weak sympathy, or cold love 
for the bodies or souls of our fellow-men. Our 
Saviour has settled the point of duty, and with 
it, of course, the point of privilege ; and we 
can have no claim to be called his followers 
if we hesitate in obedience. The spirit of 
missions is in no sense a super-addition to 



28 PEELIMINAEY KEMARKS. 

Cliristianity — it is an essential part of it. It is 
the very spirit that brought its founder, the 
first and great Missionary, into the world. It 
is his spirit; and "if any man have not the 
spirit of Christ, he is none of his." 

We are only stewards of Grod's bounty, and all 
that we have, we have received from the Lord 
Jesus with the solemn injunction, " Occupy till 
I come." " Ye are not j^our own, but bought 
with a price." " It is required of stewards that 
a man be found faithful." But after all that 
has been said about stewardship' — and the gen- 
eral admission of Christians, in words, that 
they hold the Gospel and every thing else only 
in trust — there is reason to fear that it is often 
only in words the admission is made, and that 
many use their substance, and all their talents, 
as though they were their own, without asking 
of the Lord how to employ them, or duly con- 
sidering their obligations "to do good and to 
communicate." 

Perhaps the idea of duty is too cold, though 
it should not be so, to the real believer ; to one 
who loves his Lord and Master more than 
money, more than children, more than health, 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 29 

more than life. Such a one will only ask the 
Lord, " What wilt Thou have me do?" There 
no other question. I feel that all I do, takes 
hold on eternity — that I am here just shaping 
my never-ending course, either upward or 
downward, and that what I do or omit to do, 
must also affect the eternal state of others. I 
wish to keep my eye on the cross, and to be 
crucified and risen with Christ, to live for Him, 
and to be willing to die for Him. All that I 
can do, is too little for the love which fills 
every fibre of my heart: love to Him, and love 
to the souls that may become jewels in his 
crown. To gain the least holiness, to make 
the least advance in the divine life myself, or 
aid others to do so— to reflect one ray more of 
the glory of my Redeemer, I would give all I 
have of earth. Oh, what is all that I call my 
own here, in the light of eternity — how will it 
appear on a dying bed — where will it be when 
the world is on fire? Jesus, Saviour, Thou 
hast only to show me my duty, and I will at 
least strive to do it. Only give me grace, and 
I will obey all thy commands joyfully, and 
seek to follow the least intimation of thy will, 



30 PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 

though, it be to suffering and death. I count 
not my life dear to me ; I count all things but 
loss, that I may win Christ. I am willing to 
be " bearing about in the body the dying of the 
Lord Jesus/' to take up my cross, to die daily, 
to fill up that which remains behind of the af- 
flictions of Christ, in the flesh, for his body's 
sake, which is the Church ; to remember that 
Christ pleased not himself, and to have all 
possible fellowship with him in his humilia- 
tion and suffering, and to be made comform- 
able unto his death, if thereby I maj^, in the 
least, aid him to see the travail of his soul, and 
be satisfied. 

Such will be the feeling, in view of duty 
and privilege, of every one in whom " Christ is 
formed the hope of glory." And what more 
can be needed in the work of missions? 
The Christian reads the declaration, "As I 
live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the 
death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live ;" and he says, I will do 
what I can that he may turn. This shall be 
my chief end, that my life may not be a 
failure. I will put on the Lord Jesus ; I will 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 31 

try always to realize his -union with me to 
have a sense of a present deity. 

When this shall be common among Chris- 
tians, they will, in truth, live for Christ and 
for the conversion of the world ; there will be 
no more need of urging, that most important 
point, regular systematic benevolence ; giving 
and laboring, and praying on principle, and 
not from impulse, not from excitement, or only 
under the influence of success ; as showing that 
the Church cannot do without missions, be- 
cause that sending the life-blood of the heart 
thus in circulation maintains life — its healthy 
circulation — and that the reaction of this form 
of benevolence abroad, is necessary to the 
greatest prosperity at home. Then the ques- 
tion will be, not " What must I give ?" but 
61 What may I give ?" not " What must I do to 
satisfy conscience ?" but " What can I do to sat- 
isfy my unquenchable love ? What will my 
precious Saviour accept ? How can I spread 
abroad the fragrance of that Name, which is as 
" ointment poured forth. 7 ' How shall my own 
soul be filled with its fragrance ? How shall 
all my affections be saturated with the per- 



32 PRELIMINARY REMAKES. 

fume of the divine attributes constantly over- 
lying and surrounding, and permeating my 
heart of hearts ? How shall I, by the imita- 
tion of Christ, who went about doing good, 
in works of usefulness, and by obedience to the 
command, ' Be ye therefore perfect, as your 
Father in heaven is perfect,' become a par- 
taker of the divine nature ; and know some- 
thing of the delight which God himself has in 
benevolence?" 

This will be the result of a right view of 
every Christian's duty and privilege. He is not 
his own, but bought with a price. There is 
no evading this reasoning ; and here, taking 
my stand, I call upon all that feel, and have 
the witness in themselves, that the religion of 
Christ is not a fallacy, and assuredly believe 
that heaven is not an illusion, nor hell a mere 
bugbear, and that a never-ending eternity of 
happiness or misery is a great reality, to do all 
in their power to send the glad tidings of sal- 
vation by the cross of Christ to the ends of the 
earth. 

" Waft, waft, ye winds, his story, 
And you, ye waters, roll, 



PRELIMINARY REMARKS. 33 

Till, like a sea of glory, 

It spreads from pole to pole ; 
Till, o'er our ransomed nature, 

The Lamb, for sinners slain, 
Redeemer, King, Creator, 

In bliss returns to reign." 



HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS, 



This subject, in reference to Christians in 
America, should begin with the consideration 
of the previous question, whether they have 
any personal concern in it. As India is a part 
of the " inheritance" promised to Christ by the 
Father, and as his command to his disciples, 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the 
gospel to every creature," is binding upon his 
disciples in America, as well as in Europe, it 
must be presumed that they have a responsibil- 
ity in regard to the evangelization of India, un- 
less they have a dispensation to the contrary — 
unless they can show reasons why the field 
should be occupied exclusively by others. 

It may be granted that India has higher 
claims upon Great Britain than any other part 
of the Christian world, because under its pofit- 



36 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ical control ; and also that the churches of that 
kingdom have some facilities for operations in 
their own possessions, which others have not. 
But unless the Christians of Great Britain claim 
the work of regenerating India as their own, 
and are also equal to the task, others should 
not be excluded; nor are they excluded. 
Americans and Germans work side by side 
w r ith British Christians harmoniously and suc- 
cessfully. It would be a narrow spirit that 
should forbid it, inconsistent with the genius 
of Christianity, which knows no political rela- 
tions ; nor are the disadvantages of foreigners 
— so to call them — in India, so great as may 
be imagined, compared with British Christians. 
The Germans, especially, receive countenance 
and pecuniary support in full equality, per- 
haps; with any denomination from the govern- 
ing country, if we except those of the Church 
of England, whose members contribute per- 
haps four fifths of all that is given to the cause 
of missions in India. The members of this 
Church, though they generously aid all faith- 
ful missionaries, contribute usually most boun- 
tifdlly to those of their own denomination. 



INDUCEMENTS OF THE FIELD. 37 

India then, is a fair field for the Chris- 
tian enterprise of the American Church ; and 
though it may be that some other parts of the 
world have stronger claims, as more peculiarly 
adapted to laborers from America, there are no 
claims which shut out and exclude those of 
India. 

INDUCEMENTS OF THE FIELD. 

It is an immense and glorious country, 
whose resources have scarcely begun to be 
developed, and there is room enough among 
the one hundred and thirty millions of inhab- 
itants, still heathen or Mohammedan, for the 
exertions of every Protestant country. Being 
under a liberal Christian government, ready to 
protect not only the missionary, but his con- 
verts, it affords facilities for permanent opera- 
tions, in any and ever} 7 department of mission- 
ary labor, not found in any other heathen 
country. In this remark, of course, Burmah, so 
far as occupied by the English, and Ceylon — 
both of which, in an extended sense, come 
under the name of India---are included. 

A great part of India has also a dense pop- 
4 



38 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ulation, easy of access, and in a comparatively 
healthy climate. The missionary is not obliged 
to seek a flock thinly scattered over extended 
territories, as in Southern Africa ; or in un- 
healthy, life-destroying swamps, as in some 
parts of Western Africa. There is also a great 
variety of temperature and climate to suit dif- 
ferent constitutions ; and the sanataria, found 
in different parts of the hill-country, both north 
and south, afford opportunities for the repair 
of debilitated constitutions, at least under some 
forms of disease, without the expense of a sea- 
voyage. At suitable times, moreover, the mis- 
sionary can, without much difficulty, revisit 
his native land, which it is generally good 
economy to do — for the invigorating of the 
body, mind, and spirit — once in twelve or fif- 
teen years. It is true that India is not more 
favorably situated, in this respect, than some 
other large portions of the heathen world — as 
China and Africa — but it is more so than many 
of the scattered islands of the great Pacific 
Ocean, which are yet considered favorable 
fields for missionary effort. 

In comparing India with Southern Africa, 



OBSTACLES. 39 

it has the advantage in a population not only 
more dense, but much more advanced in civil- 
ization ; and if it be compared with the parts 
of China under British protection, its languages 
are more easily acquired, which, with many, 
must be an important reason for preference. 
No missionary can fully magnify his office, un- 
less he has acquired the language of the people 
to whom he ministers, and the acquisition of 
almost any of the oriental languages — differ- 
ing wholly in genius and structure from the 
occidental — so as not only to read it, as the 
dead languages are read, but to write and 
speak it freely as a living language, by which 
principally he is to make known the Gospel, is 
no slight attainment. It is one not made, even 
in India, by every missionary. 

OBSTACLES. 

In regard to the obstacles to be overcome 
in India, they are doubtless greater than in 
many — perhaps most— other missionary fields. 
But this should only make any success attend- 
ing the effort the more prized, and not lead any 
one for a moment to withhold his utmost ef- 



40 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

fort. It is a part of the province, given to 
our Saviour as a reward for his agony and 
death, and is to be subdued for him ; no mat- 
ter what difficulties obstruct the enterprise. 

1. There is caste, which is not found in the 
same form in any other country. It is an ob- 
stacle, greater than idolatry itself, to the pro- 
gress of that religion which teaches all men to 
love as brethren ; which knows no distinction 
of high or low, male or female, but requires all 
to consider themselves members of one body, 
whose head is Christ. This is a hydra-headed 
monster, which not only lives, when one head 
after another is cut off, but pushes out new 
heads in place of the old ; and can be fully 
slain only when consumed in the fire of di- 
vine love, kindled by the Spirit of God. 

2. There is an hereditary priesthood. This 
is unknown elsewhere, except among the Jews. 
Its influence, as a barrier to the progress of 
Christianity as a universal leveller of all such 
distinctions, is almost insurmountable. The 
brahmans are earthly deities to the Hindus. 
In some respects they are considered superior 
even to the gods. It is a common saying with 



OBSTACLES. 41 

the people, " the muntras control the gods ; 
these muntras are under the power of the 
brahmans, who repeat them ; the brahmans, 
therefore, are superior to the gods." Now it 
is a class so reverenced — a class possessing 
hitherto nearly all the learning and offices in 
the country, and much of the wealth — whose 
craft is in danger. Their opposition is most 
formidable. 

3. There is also a very ancient and much 
reverenced literature, which is fully saturated 
with brahmanism. Not only are there the 
four Vedas, supposed to be given by Brahma, 
countless ages since, which form the founda- 
tion of their system, but six shasters, embody- 
ing and affecting to sanctify medicine, law, 
and other branches of science—which are all 
supposed to be matter of revelation from the 
gods — and eighteen Puranas, containing the 
exploits of the different gods, with a descrip- 
tion of the different shrines where their images 
are worshiped. Thus the Skanda Pur ana con- 
tains an account of the birth and actions 
of Skanda, the second son of Siva, and a 
highly exaggerated poetical description of 



42 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

Conjeveram, and the country on the Palar 
river ; which was the scene of some of his ex- 
ploits, and the site of a celebrated shrine for 
his worship. There are, also, two epic poems 
of great length, and considered masterpieces 
of composition — one called " the Kaniayanum 
or history of Kama," one of the incarna- 
tions of Vishnu; and another, "the Bagha- 
vathum, or fifth Veda," containing an ac- 
count of the wars between the Pandavas, and 
another branch of the same divinely descended 
race. Now all these, and numerous other 
writings, as the " Ved-angas ; " and especially 
the " Up-angas, or Upanishuds" — abstracts of 
the Vedas, or commentaries on them — are sup- 
posed to be from the gods themselves ; and to 
have the character of sacred writings, reveren- 
ced by the devout Hindu in the same manner 
as the Bible is by Christians. The greater part 
of their literature is, in their view, inspired; 
and exerts over them a commanding influence. 
4. Custom is also omnipotent with the 
never-changing Hindu. In almost every 
thing he is the same that he was three thou- 
sand years ago. He is the bond-slave of 



OBSTACLES. 43 

habit, which takes its shape from custom, and 
never dreams of doing or thinking differently 
from his remotest ancestors. Such a change 
as is implied in becoming a Christian, is not to 
be thought of for a moment. You might as 
well ask him to fly to heaven as to reach it by 
becoming a Christian. 

5. Apathy lends its aid to the obstacles to 
be overcome. There is certainly a vis inertice 
about the Hindus, which renders them, gen- 
erally, as inaccessible to argument as a bale of 
cotton wool, well pressed, is to a pistol-ball. 
Their maxim is, "It is better to walk than to 
run, to sit than to walk, to lie down than to 
sit and sleep is the best of all." Except as 
pressed by want, or excited by a prospect of 
worldly gain, they are generally indisposed to 
exertion, bodily or mental. When even present 
worldly good has little power to rouse their 
energies, it is no wonder that a distant and 
spiritual benefit or harm, gain or loss, does 
not easily interest them. They walk by sight, 
and not by faith ; and even sight is inoperative 
with them, generally, to long- sustained and 
difficult effort. 



44 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

6. Belief in transmigration operates un- 
favorably to the reception of Christianity. 
However absurd this doctrine may appear to 
western minds, it holds an almost universal 
sway over all the eastern world. It is true 
that the common Hindus do not seem to ex- 
pect to be born again as dogs, horses, cows, 
serpents, etc., or even as men and women, 
or among the lower animals, with any such 
definite expectation as seriously to influence 
their practice, yet the doctrine is taught in 
their books, and is so far accepted as to con- 
found all correct ideas of a future stale of re- 
wards and punishments. They have, there- 
fore, very little fear as to the condition of their 
souls after death. The doctrine of the me- 
tempsychosis helps their learned brahmans to 
say why there are differences between men 
here by birth. They account for one being 
born blind, or deaf, or otherwise defective in 
body — while others are perfectly formed — by 
tracing in this defect the sins of a former birth. 
They say that otherwise God would be unjust 
in making the difference. That such difference 
does exist is a proof of the doctrine, and the 



OBSTACLES. 45 

doctrine goes to prove the truth of their 
system. 

7. Belief in fate, is another obstacle. This 
is, in a sense, universal. Next to the Moham- 
medans the Hindus are, perhaps, the greatest 
religious fatalists. The doctrine is connected 
with that of transmigration. They suppose 
that in each successive birth of the soul, an ac- 
count of good and evil deeds is kept, which is 
balanced at death, and according to the balance 
is the fate written in the head by Brahma ; the 
sutures of the skull indicate this writing, and, 
except so far as common sense counteracts the 
belief, every one fancies that he is obliged to 
work out his fate. If it be his fate to steal, or 
commit murder, or do any other crime, he can 
not avoid doing it. This blunts the moral 
sense, and renders all religion, in a measure, 
unnecessary. 

8. The ease with which sin is atoned for, 
makes the offer of salvation, by Christ, nuga- 
tory. We do not need such a Saviour, be- 
cause we can save ourselves, would be the re- 
ply of most, if spoken out. Their sense of 
guilt is usually very little, and whatever the} 7 " 



46 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

may at times feel, they content themselves with. 
thinking that alms-giving, or bathing in sacred 
waters, or presents to the brahrnans, or auste- 
rities, or some other " bodily exercise," will do 
away with all sin. They have, therefore, little 
fear of the consequences of sin. Indeed, 
strictly speaking, they do not know what sin 
is, in the Scripture sense. Sin is with them 
any natural or moral evil. It is deficiency. 
A cow is a sinner, because it cannot reason 
and talk like a man. A diseased man — as a 
leper, or one blind, or deaf, or deformed, or 
one poor and an outcast is a sinner — not only 
because these defects indicate that he sinned in a 
former birth, but these defects themselves make 
him a sinner, one wanting some good. This in- 
volves no proper idea of guilt, and does not 
prepare the way for the reception of the 
Saviour. 

9. Their religious festivals attach them 
strongly to their system. These are very nu- 
merous, and are all holidays for young and old, 
male and female. There is little, perhaps, in 
most of them, to attract a more refined people ; 
but as the great processions at the temples are 



OBSTACLES. 47 

generally at night, the gaudy decorations of 
the immense cars on which the idols are 
placed, show to advantage by the glare of un- 
numbered torches, blue lights, etc., with the 
help of fire-works and noisy, though discord- 
ant, music. One looks at a little, unadorned 
stone, brass, or even golden idol, and won- 
ders how it can be an object of worship. But 
we must place ourselves in the position of the 
Hindu who has from earliest life been taught 
that the image represents his god ; and that 
when duly consecrated by thebrahmans, it is, the 
real abode of the deity. When worshiped in a 
private dwelling, as were the penates or house- 
hold gods of old, a niche is assigned to it after 
the manner of the Eomanists with the Yirgin 
Mary and the saints. It is also decorated 
with flowers, jewels, and fine clothing. 

In the public processions, the god may be 
small, and perhaps only of brass, but it is 
placed under a canopy, on the turret of a 
sumptuous car, drawn by thousands of votar- 
ies, and is covered with garlands of flowers and 
jewels. It is fanned by surrounding brahmans — 
who also burn incense before it — and worshiped 



48 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

by the immense multitudes on all sides by 
lifting up of the bands, prostration of the 
body, and perhaps rolling after the car. There 
is something in all this very imposing and im- 
pressive, and to a Hindu very captivating. 
He loves display and a religion of form. The 
festivals answer a double purpose : that of wor- 
ship and that of diversion — the latter greatly 
predominating. A religion bare of such 
sources of amusement, has no charms for him. 
10. The immense pagodas which, like that 
of Juggernauth, attract pilgrims from all parts 
of the country, are also a source of great 
strength to their system. Many of them in 
Southern India, as those at Conjeveram, Ohil- 
lumbram, Seringham, Madura, and Kamisser- 
am, are, like those at Benares, the most sacred 
spots in the country. They are very ancient 
shrines, and can boast of towers some two or 
three hundred feet high, choultries supported 
by granite pillars to the number of one thous- 
and to each choultry, and gateways faced by 
granite slabs, standing thirty feet high, and be- 
ing four or five feet square. All the structures 
are immense buildings ; strong enough for forts. 



OBSTACLES. 49 

and the}' seem designed to last forever. The ' 
Hindu points with pride to these impregnable 
piles, and appears to think his religion equally 
impregnable, and that to attack it, is as if one 
should try to beat down the pagodas by push- 
ing at them with his arms, or knocking his 
head against their walls.* 

Under all these circumstances of difficulty, 
and many more that might be mentioned, the 
obstacles to the progress of Christianity in 
India must be considered greater than in most 
other countries. The Hindu sj^stem is so 
contrived and fortified, as to be very difficult 
of attack. It is a master piece of Satan, and 
w r ith the exception of Mohammedanism and 

* The outer wall of the Pagoda of Seringham is one 
mile on each side, or four miles around, and there is on 
each side, in the middle, a gateway through a tower, called 
a gowbram, say two hundred feet in height. There are 
seven other walls, decreasing in size, one within the other, 
with gowbrams in a line on each of the four sides, and 
the innermost walls inclose a square area, in which is the 
principal temple or pagoda, a sacred tank, and a thousand- 
pillared choultry. The principal image in this temple is of 
Siva, and of solid plates of gold. It is sixteen feet in height, 
and, of course, of immense value. Some rive thousand 
brahmans are supported at this temple, and the jewels it 
contains can hardly be estimated. 
5 



50 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

Romanism, which, from having a greater ad- 
mixture of truth with soul-destroying error, 
are even more difficult of successful encounter — 
it stands prominent as one of the greatest bul- 
warks of error which the world presents. 

But is it therefore to be avoided, and left 
standing in its strength, because the conflict is 
easier in most other parts of heathendom? 
Eather should the Church concentrate some 
portion of its most powerful energies on such 
strongholds of the enemy, and — as will be 
hereafter shown — instead of giving up the 
contest at any point, bring the more force to 
bear upon it ; the more in proportion as there 
is more opposition. We need not, indeed, at- 
tempt to take well-fortified, granite forts, with 
the same weapons which might be successful 
against mud walls, or attack a Sevastopol in 
the same way as a Burmese stockade. The 
condition of different parts of India may re- 
quire some variety in the forms of operation ; 
and the obstacles to be overcome there, com- 
pared with most other parts of the world, call 
for all the appliances which the Church can 
bring to bear upon them. 



PERSONAL DUTY. 51 

PERSONAL DUTY. 

" Ought I to go to India as a missionary ?" 
It would be better perhaps to vary the question 
and ask, "Ought I not to go? Can I give a 
good reason for not going ? Some ought to go, 
ought I not?" Or why not say, " May I go ? 
Some are permitted to do so, may 1 have the 
privilege ?" 

A soliloquy like the above may occupy the 
thoughts of youthful believers of either sex, 
as their hearts glow with love to Christ and to 
souls, and with an ardent sympathy with the 
Saviour in the travail of his soul for a lost world. 
Such a one, remembering the declaration, "Ye 
are not your own, but are bought with a 
price," will ask, " What can I do for him who 
has done so much for me, whose I am, and 
whom I am bound to serve ? My property, 
my time, my influence, my whole self, I dedi- 
cate to Christ, to be employed, as it may please 
him, in extending his kingdom. He has made 
an all-sufficient atonement. He has provided 
the means of salvation for the perishing Hin- 
dus as well as others, but they know it not. 



52 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

He Las done all that is consistent with his 
perfections to save them ; his language is, 
" What could have been done more to my 
vineyard, that I have not done in it?" There 
is something to be clone which He cannot do, 
and it must be clone by his Church, of which. 
I am a part. Should I not consider well the 
declaration in Prov. xxiv. 11, 12 — ' If thou 
forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto 
death, and those that are ready to be slain, if 
thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not ; doth not 
he that pondereth the heart consider it ? and 
he that keepetk thy soul, doth not he know it ? 
and shall not he render to every man accord- 
ing to his works V Surely I ought to bear in 
mind the great end for which I came into 
the world, and inquire earnestly how I can 
best serve my generation hj the will of Grod. 
There are various occupations in the world, 
and various duties to be performed. Many 
must till the ground to provide the means of 
subsistence for all ; some must be mechanics, 
some may properly be merchants, some law- 
yers, some physicians, some ministers of the 
Gospel at home, some statesmen, etc., etc., and 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A MISSIONARY CALL. 53 

some ought, no doubt, to be missionaries 
abroad. Among all these, and other import- 
ant occupations, am I called to the latter ser- 
vice, and if so, have I a special call to India ? 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A CALL TO THE MISSION- 
ARY WORK. 

1 . It may be safely affirmed that one of the 
constituents to such a call must be an earnest 
desire. It may be one of early origin, in- 
dulged only at intervals, without any visible 
prospect of realization, or it may be newly 
and suddenly awakened hy some providential 
occurrence, or perhaps by the influence of the 
Holy Spirit upon the heart, in connection with 
reading or hearing the Word of God, receiving 
missionary intelligence, or by some other means e 
It does not follow that all who may have a 
desire for the work are called to it. There 
may be hindrances which would control, and 
ought to control, such a desire. But no one 
can have evidence of a call, who has not a de- 
sire. Perhaps he ought to have. There may 
be no better excuse for him than for others, 
5* 



54 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

who do not seek to excuse themselves ; but if 
lie has it not, he has not yet a call to go forth 
to the heathen. There must first be a " willing 
mind," a missionary spirit. The Moravians, 
who, as a body, are missionary, and of whom 
many are prepared to go abroad if necessary, 
accept none for the work who have not a 
strong predilection for it. No person can ex- 
pect to excel in any profession which he does not 
like. Nehemiah said to the Jews employed in 
rebuilding Jerusalem, " The joy of the Lord 
is your strength." The principle is universal. 
If there be not delight in an undertaking, it 
cannot be expected that difficulties will be 
properly met and overcome, and the under- 
taking successfully prosecuted. If it be an 
enterprise, as in the case of missions, of the 
greatest possible difficulty, there must be an 
earnestness and even enthusiasm in its prosecu- 
tion to ensure the wished-for success. A high 
sense of duty should, indeed, be conjoined with 
this to give it consistency and permanence; 
but the duty must be felt to be pleasant, and 
not irksome. 

Perhaps it may be said, if the heart be right, 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A MISSIONARY CALL. 55 

every duty is pleasant. So be it. If the love 
of Christ constrains, it is enough. If that love 
fills the soul as it should, there will be a burn- 
ing desire to bring all to love him, and neces- 
sarily, if it be possible, to bring the Hindu to 
his cross, that Christ may be glorified, and the 
poor idolater saved. 

2. There should be ability, that is physical 
or moral adaptedness to the work. Health, or 
the prospect of it, is of the first importance. 
Nothing can be expected of a missionary who 
has not vigor to apply himself to the language 
of the people to whom he is to minister, and 
having obtained it, to use it for their benefit. 
Nor can much less be said in regard to his 
wife. So much, indeed, may not depend upon 
her, but if she be feeble, she will often rather 
hinder than help him. At the same time, in 
regard to both, it is not so much robustness 
of constitution, as adaptedness and pliancy, that 
is required. The climate of India generally, 
is by no means unfavorable to most persons ; 
but some are better adapted to it than others. 
No one of a remarkably delicate, nervous 
system and great excitability, can expect health 



56 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

there. Nor is its climate generally favorable 
to those of a very sanguine or a bilious habit. 
Those suspected of a tendency to consumption 
would be safer, to say the least, in India than in 
America. Where the symptoms are developed 
they should not go — they should not thus cause 
expense to a missionary society, though their 
going might be rather favorable than other- 
wise to themselves. As the best constitution 
any where is not that which may appear the 
strongest, but that which has the greatest re- 
storative power, so those who most easily rally 
again after illness, are best adapted to India. 
The opinion of really intelligent physicians 
should be asked. 

As physical ability is necessary, so also is 
moral. Though there are various labors to be 
performed, and persons of various qualifica- 
tions may find work, it is not desirable to send 
those so far who can do but little — whose 
moral calibre is too small to effect much. 
Agents for the minor employments of a mis- 
sion can usually be found or raised up, on the 
ground. The idea that those who can do little 
at home will answer for the heathen of India, 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A MISSIONARY CALL. 57 

is a mistake. None are too highly endowed 
for the work there, in some of its departments. 
No doubt there are those who are so peculiarly 
qualified for important posts at home, that they 
ought not to go abroad, if such posts cannot be 
filled except by them, but not because there is 
not in India a field adequate to their abilities. 
If any, from their own consciousness of 
possessing superior abilities, or from the opin- 
ion of partial friends, are ready to think the 
work is too small for them, they have only to 
consider it was not too small for Peter, or 
Paul, or Carey, or Henry Martyn. Let him 
choose his employment to correspond with his 
capacity. Is he a linguist, here is full occupa- 
tion — in addition to preaching in an oriental 
tongue — in the w r ork of translating the Scrip- 
tures, or translating and writing the many 
books needed for schools, and to form a Chris- 
tian literature for the native church. In most 
places almost every thing is yet to be done, and 
no talent is too great to lay the foundations of 
the native church for all time. If any one 
will duly consider the obstacles he has to en- 
counter, the antagonists he has to meet with, in 



58 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the Brahman and learned Hindu Sastri, he must 
either be a very uncommon man, or have an 
overweening opinion of himself, if he thinks the 
contest below his powers. Were he to confine 
himself to the most simple form of missionary 
labor, preaching to the adults in the streets and 
houses, and wherever he might find them, he 
need not be afraid lest the work should not tax 
all his powers, and employ, in some form or 
other, all his talents. One of the most accom- 
plished men known to the writer, who holds a 
scholarship of one of the universities in England, 
is employed as an itinerant preacher to the na- 
tives, and he who might perhaps in England 
have aspired to a bishopric, is content to be a 
missionary. 

A facility in acquiring languages, a readi- 
ness of adaptation to circumstances, capacity 
of improvement rather than mere acquisition 
already secured, a well-trained rather than fully 
stored intellect, the power of learning in pref- 
erence to some fixed amount obtained, and, 
above all, common sense, are desirable ; but ex- 
cept the first, need not, perhaps, be insisted on 
for the foreign missionary more than for the 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A MISSIONARY CALL. 59 

minister at home ; and the same remark would 
apply to almost all the moral qualifications. 

A very useful missionary, who has now been 
nearly twenty years in India, and has acquired a 
good and practical knowledge of one of the ver- 
nacular languages extensively spoken, came 
out to the country with only the training of a 
saddler. 

As the subject of qualification must, how- 
ever, be considered at some length, in speaking 
of preparation for the work, what is already said, 
may perhaps suffice in determining a call to it. 

Opportunity. — This may be, in the case of a 
female, an invitation from a missionary to ac- 
company him as a wife, or an opening for her 
to go single to occupy some specified sphere of 
usefulness. In general, it is not desirable that 
a young lady should go to India, unless some 
family is prepared to receive her and give her 
a home, or some post is vacant which she is 
needed to fill. Undoubtedly the society in 
England for the promotion of female educa- 
tion in the east, has done much good by send- 
ing out suitable persons, even when they 
had no definite work to give them, for they 



60 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

have thus provided suitable wives for many 
missionaries needing them ; but this could not 
be imitated to any extent in America, and 
young ladies sent out single, without a pro- 
tector and a definite object, might be exposed 
to many annoyances. But when invited to go 
as a missionary's wife, or to occupy some im- 
portant post as a single laborer, it is certainly 
a call in providence, which should be well 
considered. Nor should parents or other 
relatives interpose between the subject of 
such a call and her Saviour, except by way 
of advice. The mother even, if she has dedi- 
cated her daughter to the Lord in sincerity, 
cannot step in and reclaim her, if there be 
reason to think that He called her. No such 
reserve was made in the dedication. The 
mother did not say " Take this, my daughter, 
she is thine and not mine ; but do not send her 
away from me on a mission to a distant land. 
Take her, but preserve her alive, and keep 
her near me, in my native country, and cause 
her to be comfortably settled here, or I cannot 
dedicate her to thee ; or, send her away from 
me, if it be thy will, but do not send her 



WHAT CONSTITUTES A MISSIONARY CALL. 61 

over sea or to savages." No, Christian mother, 
this was not your dedication, it was without 
reserve, or it would have been a mockery, and 
you cannot make conditions now. Study 
only to know what the will of the Lord is, in 
regard to your precious child, and do that 
cheerfully, or you withhold from God his 
own, and must suffer the consequences of this 
sacrilege, perhaps in the early loss of what 
you cannot voluntarily resign. Whosoever 
keepeth back part of the price, as did Ana- 
nias and Sapphira, must expect some judg- 
ment. Instances have occurred in which a 
daughter has been kept back from a mission, 
only soon to die at home. 

In case of a man, the opportunity may be 
not only a freedom from engagements, which 
would prevent his going, but a providential 
opening and invitation. There may be suffi- 
cient reason at any time for his instituting the 
inquiry as to his duty, and every candidate 
for the ministry must do so at some time in a 
solemn manner, and settle the question so as 
to satisfy his conscience, if he would have 
peace in after life ; but there are some seasons 
6 



62 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

when, from the general want of laborers, or 
from the uncommon necessities of some mis- 
sion, or, it may be, the visit of some missionary 
or other agent in the work, there is a special 
call in providence to take up the question of 
personal devotement to a foreign mission. Let 
such an opportunity be considered as from the 
Lord, and treated accordingly ; and let every 
one presume that, inasmuch as many are needed 
abroad, and few are willing to go, there is a 
providential call upon him, unless he can show 
good reason to the contrary. 

QUALIFICATIONS. 

In thus speaking of a call to the work, 
I have adverted briefly to some physical 
and moral qualifications, which of themselves 
may constitute a presumptive call. Whether 
natural or acquired — as being already pos- 
sessed — they form a preparation of condi- 
tion for the work. There are others which, if 
not already possessed, may be acquired or cul- 
tivated. The present want of them, therefore, 
whether more or less important, should not be 



QUALIFICATIONS. 63 

considered as excusing any one from the 
undertaking. 

1. Ardent Piety. — This is most important, 
for without it the missionary — no longer sur- 
rounded by those who love God, or aided by 
favoring influences from without — may find 
himself too much inclined to halt in his reli- 
gious course. Most persons, moving with the 
current of public opinion in a Christian land, 
kept in countenance by those around them, 
and shielded in the warm bosom of the Church 
from all chilling blasts, know little how much 
of their piety is adventitious — the piety of 
circumstances. 

Let them be stripped of these aids — let them 
find themselves called to contend against pub- 
lic opinion exposed to the ridicule and mockery 
of the open enemies of their God and Saviour, 
and they will also find themselves much less 
efficient soldiers of Christ than they had sup- 
posed. Without ardent piety in the heart, the 
exertions of such would be likely to diminish ; 
and especially would this be the case of any 
one who should be much alone in his field, and 
who, if he faints, has no one to hold him up. 



64 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

It is generally supposed that the situation 
of a missionary to the heathen is peculiarly 
favorable to growth in grace. If he be a true 
man, who has renounced home and country for 
Christ's sake, and is not actuated by any ro- 
mantic or ascetic views, or by love of change, 
or desire of distinction, his circumstances are 
in some respects favorable. He is relieved 
from undue care as to his pecuniary support, 
he has no longer any competition with others 
for place or salary, he is removed from scenes 
of party and denominational strife, he is, or 
ought to be, in a good measure dead to the 
world ; but he carries with him the remains of 
his depraved nature; he can find, if he seek 
them, opportunities for controversy with his 
brethren or others ; the climate, or ill-health, or 
other circumstances may expose him to indo- 
lence; want of success may discourage him; and 
the great enemy — into whose. strong-holds ho 
has ventured — may attack him with such fiery 
darts, that without the shield of faith, vigor- 
ously upheld, he will be staggered in his 
course, if he do not fall. Swimming against 
the stream, and without aid from others, if he 



QUALIFICATIONS. 65 

has life in himself, and daily and constantly 
looks to God for strength, he will make pro- 
gress ; and the circumstances most unfavorable 
will be turned to good account, by leading 
him to trust more implicitly in the Lord, and 
to cease from man. Being cut off from other 
help, and shut up to dependence on Divine 
aid, he may truly walk by faith. But if he be 
dead or asleep, he will be carried down the 
current, helpless of progress for himself, in the 
right direction, and useless to those to whom 
he was sent. 

2. Zeal, or earnestness of purpose. — The mis- 
sionary should be an earnest man. There is 
enough, undoubtedly, to make him earnest, 
but he must cultivate this spirit, that he may 
magnify his office. There is no occasion for 
making the work of a foreign missionary so 
peculiar as to exclude from it persons of com- 
mon zeal, supposing that the love of Christ 
really constrains them, and that they have a 
zeal for God — and not some lower motive — in 
entering the ministry ; but it must not be con- 
cealed that there is this peculiarity in a foreign 
mission, that it shows what men are more than 
6* 



66 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

most positions at home ; where want of earnest- 
ness in a minister may be remedied in part by 
that of his elders or deacons, or other members 
of his church. Active habits, arising from 
true zeal for the honor of God and the salva- 
tion of souls, are most important in a mis- 
sionary. 

3. An accommodating disposition. — By this is 
not meant a softness which prevents one 
from forming and expressing an opinion con- 
trary to others. On the contrary, self-reliance 
and decision of character are very necessary 
in one who must often be left to settle very 
grave questions on his own responsibility, and 
cannot have the help which ministers at home 
may have from their fellow Christians — hav- 
ing none around them but heathen and mere 
babes in Christ — but it is meant that there 
should not be a dogged, crotchety, and imprac- 
ticable temper. Such a crooked stick as will 
not lie straight, nor even keep its place, how- 
ever laid, but turn up some corner whenever 
pressed, is not fit for the missionary pile. At 
the same time a sense of some deficiency in 
this respect, or conviction of the want of good 



QUALIFICATIONS. 67 

temper, should not discourage any one who, 
mourning over his short-comings, endeavors 
to correct them at the foot of the cross. 
" What is crooked cannot he made straight' 7 
in one's own strength, or by others ; but 
" what is impossible to men, is possible with 
God." 

4. Cheerfulness of mind. — Too much stress 
need not be laid upon this. It is only neces- 
sary that a melancholy habit, or giving way to 
depression of spirits, be guarded against. A 
misanthropic missionary is an absurdity. His 
very calling supposes that he loves his fellow- 
men ; and the more of a tender, loving, genial, 
sunny spirit he has, the more useful he is 
likely to be. 

There are some, however, who are melan- 
choly, not from sourness of temper, or want of 
interest in the happiness of others, but from 
desponding views of themselves, and of their 
own acceptance with Grod. Surely this can be 
remedied by faith and prayer. It must not be 
indulged. A great part of the duty of a mis- 
sionary is to give his testimony for Christ. He 
is a witness. He must speak of that which he 



68 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

lias " tasted and handled of the Word of 
Life.' 7 If he cannot, he can do but little. 
His words will fall powerless upon those who 
know not God, if they come not from the 
heart, and if he cannot say, " I know in whom 
I have believed." A little boy, when ridi- 
culed for worshiping an unseen God, said, 
" You worship a god whom you can see, an 
idol made by hands, but we worship the God 
whom we cannot see, because He is a Spirit, 
but who made us and all things." The Hindu 
says, "Show us your God," and asks, "Have 
you seen him ?" The missionary must be able 
to say, " As He is a Spirit, I cannot show him 
to you, as you show your dumb idols, which 
have no spirit ; but I have seen him by the 
eye of faith, and you, too, may see him when 
the eyes of your understanding are opened." 
He must, therefore, seek the "full assurance 
of faith." The trumpet in his hand must not 
give an " uncertain sound." It is still much 
as it was when our Saviour said, " According 
to your faith be it unto you." 

Cheerfulness is important, as it gives birth to 
a hopeful spirit, which tends to counteract the 



QUALIFICATIONS. 69 

depressing influences too often affecting the 
missionary in his work. A habit of looking 
on the bright, rather than the dark side of 
things, is to be cultivated — at least, of taking a 
perfectly fair view of them in the light of 
reason and of Scripture, of remembering that 
the work is the Lord's, and of hearing the 
voice which still says, "What art thou, 
great mountain, before Zerubbabel ? thou shalt 
become a plain." 

5. Humility. — As a fundamental grac§ in the 
Christian character, wonderfully displayed by 
the first and great missionary of the cross, the 
Lord Jesus Christ, this is in every respect im- 
portant ; but I would speak of it particularly as 
opposed to ambition, or a desire of pre-emi- 
nence, rather than to pride. We may take it 
for granted that one who is anticipating the 
missionary work, or already engaged in it, is 
convinced that he should not give place to 
vanity. It is wholly opposed to all proper 
views of such a work. Also, that he is not 
knowingly governed by pride. But through 
the selfishness which all have, and the effect 
of that emulation which is usually so much 



70 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

encouraged in education as a stimulus to effort, 
there are too many, even among missionaries, 
who, like Diotrephes, love to have the pre- 
eminence. Undoubtedly if two persons are on 
a horse one must be before, and so, in most 
other positions, where several are together, 
some one or two naturally take the lead. Some 
minds are formed to lead, and others to follow. 
If all but properly feel that they are parts of 
one body, and that every one, whether the 
hand pr foot, should only seek to do his part 
well, there will be no schism. The foot will 
be found as necessary as the hand ; and all the 
members will have mutual sympathy, if all 
have true humility ; but pride, being overbear- 
ing and dictatorial, makes fatal divisions in the 
body. 

The right-minded missionary, whatever may 
be his relative position among his brethren, 
will cultivate true humility of spirit. He will 
remember the teaching of our Saviour, who 
" pleased not himself;" and that he placed a 
little child in the midst of his disciples, saying, 
""Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself 
as this little child, shall be greatest in the 



QUALIFICATIONS. 71 

kingdom of heaven." He will not seek dis- 
tinction among his brethren, except as useful- 
ness requires it, and not covet the " honor 
which cometh from men,' 7 but that which 
" cometh from God only." 

6. Contentment — It is very important that 
the missionary learn in whatever state he is, 
therewith to be content. A roving, unsettled, 
discontented disposition will be fatal to his 
usefulness. He must not mind high things, 
but condescend to men of low estate. His 
language must be, " Seekest thou great things 
for thyself, seek them not." He must, indeed, 
covet earnestly the best gifts. He must long 
for higher degrees of usefulness. He must 
forget the things that are behind, and press to- 
ward the mark for the prize of his high call- 
ing ; but as to this world, he must be content 
with such things as he has, and with the labor 
to which God has called him. Let him have 
this well settled in his mind, that he has been 
placed in his office by the Holy Spirit : that 
he has not taken it of himself ; that he is really 
where his Lord and Master would have him 
be, and is really doing that Master's work, and 



72 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

not his own, and lie may rest in that content- 
ment. He need not be anxious about results, 
but only to do his duty ; he need not envy 
those around him living at ease, who though 
not superior to him in qualifications, receive 
ten, or twenty, or thirty times his salary ; or 
remember with regret opportunities for ad- 
vancing himself in the world which he left at 
home. No, he will be content to be conformed 
to Christ in his humiliation, that he may be 
prepared, and instrumental in preparing others, 
to be received at length to glory. Such a con- 
tentment will make a missionary happy and 
useful in all conditions. The peace of Grod, 
which passeth all understanding, will keep his 
heart and mind through Christ Jesus. 

7. Thankfulness. — This is one step beyond 
mere contentment, and is important to the 
missionary who would " be strong in the Lord 
and in the power of his might." "Whoso 
offereth praise, glorifieth me, and to him that 
ordereth his conversation aright, will I show 
the salvation of God." This is the gracious 
assurance to a thankful spirit. No one needs 
to understand and to feel its strengthening in- 



QUALIFICATIONS. 73 

fluence more than a lone-laborer among the 
heathen. He must ask, "Who hath despised 
the day of small things?" He must learn the 
command, " In every thing give thanks." Per- 
haps most Christians are deficient in this re- 
spect ; but a foreign laborer must take special 
care that he is not. If he have a musical turn 
it will be of much use. If possible, he should 
sing ; he should cultivate and practice music, 
at least so as to chant and sing by himself. He 
should cherish a love for children, and all the 
bright and joyous objects of nature. No man 
or woman will be likely to do well in a foreign 
field who does not love children, who has 
not simple tastes, who is not joyous, who is 
not thankful. 

Preparation. — Study of Medicine. — Some 
have thought that when circumstances allow, 
a candidate for foreign service should study 
surgery and medicine. To unite a knowledge 
of the method of healing both body and mind, 
is undoubtedly an advantage to a missionary 
anywhere, as the greater the qualifications, the 
more useful one may be ; but in India, gener- 
ally, he will not be obliged to depend on his 



74 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

own medical or surgical knowledge, there be- 
ing professional men maintained by govern- 
ment, at all the principal stations. Besides, it 
is the practice of most missionary societies to 
send a well-read and practical physician to 
each of their large missions. As no one can 
excel in every thing, it is usually best to make 
a division of labor in this, as in other respects; 
and depend principally on the doctor of the 
mission, or of the station, for medical and 
surgical aid. At the same time, every mission- 
ary should study enough on these subjects, to 
render needed help to his own family, and 
those around him, in common ailments ; and 
especially should he inform himself so far in 
physiology and the laws of life, as to under- 
stand the best means of preserving life and 
health, and know that he ought not to take or 
give much medicine. Prevention is better 
than cure, and it will be generally sufficient if his 
knowledge is in that direction and his pharma- 
copoeia extend little further than to common 
family medicines. Perhaps, on the whole, as 
many are injured in India by the excess of med- 
icines, especially the more powerful mineral 



QUALIFICATIONS. 75 

drugs, as by the want of them, and except in 
special cases the less one takes, or gives of 
them, the better. Let a missionary learn 
enough to wait upon nature, and assist her 
operations, and it will be sufficient. The Hin- 
dus have very generally a pernicious habit of 
giving medicines to persons in health, to pre- 
vent sickness, and of giving different drugs 
mixed together, that some of them may suit the 
disease. It is well to know enough to correct 
such tendencies. 

Music and Drawing. — The cultivation of a 
musical taste, as already hinted, will be well, 
and a knowledge of drawing, where there is 
any turn for it, will often be found useful, as 
well as pleasing. 

The best methods of teaching, of conveying 
truth to the minds of the young and old, 
should be carefully studied, and the principles 
which should govern the infant-school, Sun- 
day-school, Bible-class, and seminary of every 
kind, be as far as possible understood, as also 
the difference between teaching and educating. 
The training system, in its main features, should 
be well mastered. 



76 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

Commencing the Language. — It lias sometimes 
been a question whether the language of the 
people to whom the missionary is going, may 
not be profitably studied at home. If there 
be a teacher and books, and the time of the 
candidate allow,. there will be a great advan- 
tage in thus beginning the study. A little 
knowledge gained, will be a stock to which he 
may add on his passage, and with which he 
may commence business at once on his arrival. 
As to one of his principal difficulties, the pro- 
nunciation of the language, he may not learn 
much, and what he does learn, some part, per- 
haps, he will find afterward he must unlearn ; 
but he will still find almost any attainment in 
this respect a real gain. The greater facilities, 
however, of studying on the ground, espe- 
cially in regard to the pronunciation, should 
prevent any one from remaining at home for 
the alone purpose of studying the language, 
under the idea that a better climate will 
counterbalance these deficiencies. It will not 
by any means, and if other occupations and 
employments do not interfere — as is too often 
the case in India — there will usually- be no 



QUALIFICATIONS. 77 

hindrance there to -vigorous application to the 
study and gradual use of the language. 

Marriage. — There is another item of pre- 
paration, more important than any which has 
been mentioned, and that is, getting married. In 
regard to pioneer-missions, and missions to the 
more savage parts of the world, it may often be a 
question whether the missionary would better 
not be single. As to India, the rule should be 
to marry, and the exceptions should be in the 
case of such as have no need, or who wish to 
confine themselves to itinerant labors. In 
most cases what was said by an African chief 
will apply: " Double-handed men are wanted." 
The help of the wife is needed in various 
ways — in almost every way. There is much 
teaching to be done in which she may aid — 
the native women are to be approached in a 
way in which she only can get access to them 
— the relations of a Christian family are to be 
illustrated, and domestic life in a proper form 
exemplified. With all this, the wife is needed 
for the comfort, counsel, and aid of her hus- 
band ; and usually one half that he does, may 

be fairly put to her credit. This the writer 

7* 



78 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

has heard again and again stated by mission- 
aries whose wives deserved all the com- 
mendation. 

But if one going to India as a laborer should 
be married, may he not go out single and 
marry there, or return for a wife? This is 
often done by the English missionaries. It 
has the advantage of leaving them, free from 
family cares, while they apply themselves to 
the language, and get initiated into their work. 
It also enables them to prove the climate, and 
test their qualifications, at less expense than if 
they were married ; and perhaps for those from 
Europe, who have more facilities for going 
back and forth than Americans have, and 
more favorable opportunities than they for 
forming connections in the country, it may 
often be very well. 

But there are some advantages in the hus- 
band and wife going at the same time, and be- 
ginning together with all the freshness of their 
first zeal and devotedness to a work new to 
them both. There is more mutual counsel, 
their habits are formed more in unison, and 
even in getting the language and knowledge 



DEPASTURE. 79 

of the customs of the country, they both suc- 
ceed as well or better when thus united. The 
expense and loss of time for one from America 
to return so soon as he will probably wish to 
do, will also operate against any general cus- 
tom of those going out single who intend to 
marry. 

Departure.— Leaving one's home and coun- 
try, probably for life, is an important and 
serious event. If, indeed, as suggested to be 
generally advisable, and as is now often done, 
the missionary return on a visit at the end of 
twelve or fifteen years, should he be spared so 
long, it will not be literally for life. But if he 
thus return, it will not be to all that he left. 
Many whom he loved will have gone, and 
those that remain will be much changed. So 
will most of the places that he left. He comes 
home to feel himself a stranger. The friends 
whom he has kept embalmed in his memory 
just as he left them, are not the same whose 
images he has been cherishing and loving. 
He, too, is changed, and though respect and 
affection may on both sides remain, it is not 
as though he had continued and grown 



80 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

old with his loved ones ; and, after a short 
visit, he is generally desirous of hastening 
back to his adopted home, and to the familiar 
forms there. He does, therefore, practically, 
and in the beginning, leave all for life. Such 
should be his own devotement. Except in 
some extreme case, no one should go out for a 
limited time. If he do this, by the time he has 
gotten the language — which, however, as to be 
used only for a season, he may not have a suffi- 
cient motive to get thoroughly — and obtained 
some knowledge of the people and acquaint- 
ance with the work, he will begin to think 
about leaving, and be preparing for his depart- 
ure. All should intend to spend their lives 
in the work. This is a serious undertaking, 
and should not be lightly attempted. 

Looking at the enterprise in this view, it 
cannot be made to resemble so much the labor 
of the minister at home as some would contend 
it should be, or be governed altogether by the 
same maxims; there is a peculiarity in it, which 
should be duly considered both in the choice 
and prosecution. 

For the choice, as already intimated, there 



PROSECUTION OF THE WORK. 81 

should be proper qualifications, and a call re- 
sponded to with the whole heart. When the 
inquiry comes, " Whom shall we send?" the 
response must be from the inmost soul, ' Here 
am I, send me.' Yes, send me far away from 
home and country. I cheerfully bid them a 
long farewell, from my love to my crucified 
Saviour and the perishing heathen. Yea, wo 
is me if I preach not the Gospel on a foreign 
shore." 

For the prosecution, besides such prepara- 
tions as have been hinted at, it may be well, if 
circumstances allow, to visit friends and the 
churches somewhat extensively, so as to have 
a deeper place in their affections and prayers. 
There should also, of course, be a proper pre- 
paration for the passage to India and settlement 
there. 

A moderate outfit for the four months at sea 
and the first landing, will be necessary, ac- 
cording to lists furnished from the Missionary 
House, or by experienced persons. Generally 
the outfit prepared is too large ; and almost 
always, more or less of it ill chosen. The 
articles should be principally those adapted for 



82 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

a warm climate, and be of a good quality. 
Unless under good advice as to what will 
be needed, money should not be laid out 
on wearing apparel, crockery, household uten- 
sils, furniture, etc., as various articles can 
be procured at either Presidency in India, 
cheaper than in America. At any rate they 
will usually be better adapted to the country, 
and therefore the money paid for them be 
profitably kept to expend there. Whenever 
the outfit is furnished by friends, of course it 
is different ; but one thing should be known, 
that the washing in India is done by dip- 
ping the clothes in water, and beating them 
on a stone, or with a board, and that this 
requires garments of a strong texture, and 
sewing in double seams, or overstitched, with 
wide hems, so as not to fret out. 

For the passage, if in an American ship, 
with few companions, it is not necessary to 
provide so many changes as for the English 
vessels, going or coming. In all the larger 
passenger ships of the better class, the passen- 
gers must appear neat at breakfast, and dressed 
for dinner, as in a hotel at home, or else be 



PASSAGE. 83 

thought shabby; which imputation need not 
frighten any from their propriety, but must be 
taken into the account in deciding on the out- 
fit needed. 

Passage. — Hints for those unaccustomed to 
the sea, are usually given by the Secretaries 
and Committee who have the responsibility of 
sending out missionaries, or by some one act- 
ing for them ; and need not be here enlarged 
upon. They will learn that it is important to 
make themselves acquainted with the rules of 
the ship, and abide by them, whether as to 
putting out their lights at night, not speaking 
to the men while engaged in working the ship 
— especially the helmsman at the wheel — not 
going forward among the seamen, without lib- 
erty, etc., etc. They should ask permission 
of the captain for any services which they may 
wish to hold, except those in their own cabin 
or cabins, and it will be proper, at a suitable 
time, when at sea, and all things are ship- 
shape, to ask leave, if not invited to do so, to 
preach to all on board. If circumstances al- 
low, they should also have, from the first, 
morning and evening prayers, for such as may 



84 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

like to attend, in the cuddy, or principal 
cabin. Should the captain have no objection, 
such services may be held ; and also a blessing 
asked at table. In some cases tact will be re- 
quired to bring these things about, and wis- 
dom will be profitable to direct. There must 
not be an over-eagerness even to do good, lest 
it should defeat its object ; and if the captain 
be found averse, or even indifferent, the mis- 
sionary should bear in mind that he cannot 
claim such privileges as a right, but ask them 
as a favor ; with due regard also to the fact 
that the captain must be supreme on board 
ship ; and that he may, if of inferior education 
— except in his profession — be jealous of 
learned missionaries. Some knowledge of 
human nature, much forbearance, perhaps, and 
abundance of zeal, may be necessary in the 
missionary, to enable him to do all that might 
be done, in teaching the seamen in Bible- 
classes, and preaching the Gospel to them 
as well as to the officers and passengers, and 
thus making a good beginning of his mis- 
sionary work. One thing he can always 
do without interruption, and that is pray. 



ARRIVAL. 85 

Let him, then, on the passage, occupy himself 
much in prayer. 

Arrival — If this be, as usual, at either- of 
the Presidencies, there will be missionaries, 
either from America or Great Britain, to 
receive the new-comer. If not from his 
own Society, he should not feel that he has 
any claim upon them, but they will be ready 
to assist him in finding proper lodgings. 
There is great hospitality in India, especially 
in the country where, except on some trunk- 
road, there are no taverns and no places 
of entertainment or shelter except the bunga- 
lows provided by government, containing 
two or three rooms each, with table, couch, 
and chairs ; and where water, milk, and per- 
haps eggs, or a fowl, may be obtained by 
help of the peon, who guards the building. 
Most of the provisions, with means for cooking, 
must be furnished by the traveller himself; 
who is something like a turtle, carrying his 
house on his back. The residents, at out- 
stations, consequently expect that wayfarers, - 
of any respectability, will make free to come 
to their houses when passing, and though 
8 



86 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

utter strangers, they are always cordially re- 
ceived. It is usual, however, to get a letter 
of introduction, or to send on notice of such 
contemplated intrusion. In the large towns, 
and especially the Presidencies, the case is dif- 
ferent; because comfortable lodgings can be 
procured with money. Yet missionaries are 
always ready to receive their brethren, though 
of other denominations, or from another coun- 
try ; when circumstances admit. But, as be- 
fore said, the new-comer should not, because 
he is a missionary, feel that he has a claim 
upon the hospitality of any, if not from his 
own society. He should be grateful for at- 
tentions and aid, and it will be well if he be 
ready to receive advice from those able and 
willing to advise him. It sometimes happens 
that newly-arrived missionaries, because more 
recently from home than those before on the 
ground, consider themselves better informed, 
even on subjects connected with the work 
abroad. With them, as with most others, 
few are willing to profit fully by any ex- 
perience except their own. The writer was 
once conversing with Dr. Marshman, the col- 



ARRIVAL. 87 

league of Carey and Ward, in the Serampore 
mission, when the doctor expressed his regret 
concerning the course taken by some newly- 
arrived missionaries of their own society. 
The question was asked, "Why not advise 
them better ?" The answer was, " It would 
be of no use, every one must learn for him- 
self." There was much truth in the remark, 
but it should not be applied without limita- 
tion, and was not probably so intended. 
Young missionaries are sometimes unwilling 
to learn, and old missionaries unapt to teach 
in the most acceptable and conciliatory man- 
ner. On the side of the former, may be 
want of due deference, perhaps from a sense 
of superiority except as regards experimental 
knowledge ; and on the other, too much dog- 
matism. A strong-minded missionary, not 
long after his arrival in the country, some- 
times said, "They talk about need of ex- 
perience ; I think some men learn more in 
a few months, than many others do in several 
years." He, however, when he became an ex- 
periencec] missionary, found that, in some 
things, he had yet to learn even from others. 



88 HINTS 0N T INDIAN MISSIONS. 

There is no subject, perhaps, of which a prac- 
tical, in distinction from a theoretical knowl- 
edge, is more important. Almost every thing, 
to the young missionary, is new and strange, 
and not only apparently, but really different 
from what he has been accustomed to, or has 
imagined. He must, therefore, whatever his 
ability or attainments, content himself for a 
time with being a learner. He should keep 
his eyes and ears open, and his mouth shut, 
except to use every word and sentence of the 
vernacular language which he can lay hold of 
and make his own. He should be quick to 
observe, yet reserved in communicating his 
opinions to his friends at home, on any doubt- 
ful points. His pen may, however, be well 
employed in giving facts and descriptions 
of what he meets with in so strange a coun- 
try. The freshness of first impressions have 
much value, and may well be conveyed in his 
letters home and his journals ; but he must be 
cautious of making his still immature judg- 
ment a decider of controversies, as to the 
methods of conducting the missionary work. 
He should also guard, both on reaching his 



AEEIVAL. 89 

own field and before entering it, against hasty 
decisions as to the success of his brethren and 
other missionaries. The work in India is 
still, to a great extent, preparatory, and some 
are more engaged in this part of the labor 
than others, not the less usefully because with 
less apparent results. In building a small hut, 
there is little need of a foundation, but if you 
are to erect a cathedral or castle, you should 
dig deep and bury in the earth huge masses 
of masonry, costing great labor. Even before 
this is done, you have, perhaps, to clear the 
ground, not only of briars and thorns, and un- 
der-brush, but of tall and deep-rooted trees, 
and the remains of former buildings. To one 
who visits the scene of this labor, when the 
structure is scarcely risen above the surface 
of the ground, little may seem to be accom- 
plished ; especially if the materials gathered 
for the edifice, and scattered on all sides, are 
left unnoticed, as well as the foundation which 
is buried. There are two sources of error to 
the newly-arrived missionary — one is, that he 
cannot well understand the difficulties over- 
come ; and the other, that he cannot at once 



90 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

comprehend all which, notwithstanding those 
difficulties, has been accomplished. Let him, 
then, " be swift to hear, and slow to speak." 

PRESEEVATION OF HEALTH. 

A hint or two respecting this, may be here 
given. It will be well also to take the advice 
of experienced men as to many other points. 
Most, perhaps, who go to India, are inclined 
to think that they can do there much as they 
have been accustomed to do at home — that 
they can eat, and drink, and labor, and expose 
themselves to the sun, as they have done in a 
temperate climate. They are partly confirmed 
in this notion, after arrival, by finding the 
sensible heat less than they expected, less per- 
haps, than they have sometimes felt at home ; 
and forgetting that it is the continuance of the 
heat without intermission, as much as its inten- 
sity, which makes it debilitating, they fancy 
that fear of it is idle, and the effect of indo- 
lence. They are not going to make a bug-bear 
of over-fatigue ; they are not intending to 
worship the sun, or to be afraid of his beams ; 
and while they have an appetite they think it 



PEESEKVATION OF HEALTH. 91 

proper to eat and drink. If anywhere, how- 
ever, it is important to remember the maxim, 
" Be temperate," it is in India. This extends to 
every thing. All excesses are injurious to a 
degree they cannot be in a colder climate. 
Even in regard to application to study, and 
the labors of the mission, every one should at 
first be content to make haste slowly. 

As to eating and drinking, a sea appetite 
and habit are perhaps brought on shore, and 
tempting means of gratifying it may be af- 
forded. Let the new-comer then put a knife 
to his throat, ." if he be a man given to ap- 
petite," especially as to much indulgence in the 
fruits of the country, until he learns what he 
can bear. Erom one part of the pleasures of 
the table, most dangerous to those inclined to 
over-indulgence — the use of alcoholic drinks — 
it is to be hoped that missionaries in general 
need have no reason to fear, because of total 
abstinence from them. Time was when they 
were thought peculiarly necessary in a hot 
climate. Those times of ignorance have pass- 
ed away, and it is better understood than it 
was, that ice and cooling drinks are better 



92 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

adapted to temper the fervency of the sun, 
than alcoholic potations, which inflame the 
blood. Yet many very many men, and even 
women, entering the country with the brightest 
prospects, find a premature grave from this 
cause. Nor are the victims to intemperance 
in eating few or far between; although the 
cause of their wreck of health is less obvious. 
Over-fatigue should be carefully avoided, be- 
cause it is more exhausting than in a temperate 
climate, and because the consequent debility 
is less easily remedied. One can afford to be 
more extravagant of health, where the loss is 
easily repaired. In India the repair is too 
difficult to warrant any excesses. Uniform, 
steady, systematic, and cheerful effort, will 
effect more in the end, and be much safer than 
spasmodic exertions, leading to over-action. 
Too much rapidity is unfavorable to health, 
and defeats its own object. At the same time 
let no one plead for inactivity, or make the 
climate an apology for indoleace. It affords no 
excuse. There is no reason for men or women 
rusting out in India, more than in any other 
country; though perhaps more do rust out than 



■COMMENCING LABOR. 93 

wear out, either in mind or body, or both. 
The climate is not unfavorable to steady and 
continued exertion. Most persons can with, 
temperance and moderation do as much there 
as elsewhere, and perhaps live as long. 

Exposure to the sun for any length of time 
must be avoided, when it is near meridian. 
Its direct rays are too powerful for any but 
African or Asiatic heads. One of the most 
promising missionaries perhaps, that ever en- 
tered the field in India, Adams, a friend of the 
lamented Urquhart, found an early grave at 
Calcutta, by injudicious exposure of himself 
to the sun ; against doing which, he was abund- 
antly warned. He thought the missionaries 
too fearful, and used to stay in the bazaars to 
preach until ten or eleven o'clock, and come 
home with a wet handkerchief in his hat ; but 
his head still burning with heat. Thus he soon 
burnt out. It is better to do as did Bishop 
Turner of Calcutta, whose ill health obliged 
him to be careful, and who was accustomed to 
say, " I have learned in India to pay great re- 
spect to the sun." 

Commencing Labor. — As already intimated, 



94 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the first business is to acquire a practical and 
ready knowledge of the spoken language, and 
the second is, to use it constantly, to preach in 
it, talk in it, think in it, dream in it, and make 
it one's own. 

One of the best methods of obtaining it 
practically, is by constant use of words and 
sentences, one after another, by little and little, 
in the midst of abundant blundering. " By 
erring we learn,'' and one must be content to 
be thought a blunderer, and flounder away 
continually, only being willing to be set right. 
He must not be like the man who would not 
go into the water until he had learned to swim. 
No mistake can be greater than this. He will 
never learn to speak, if he confine himself to 
his books, until he has learned to speak cor- 
rectly. He will find after all his study that 
his words do not come in the right place, or 
with the right sound, and he will be ashamed 
after a while to make the attempt. At first all 
sorts of blunders are expected, and overlooked 
by speaker and hearer, but after one has been 
studying for months and years, he dares* not 
attempt to speak, unless he knows he is right, 



ACQUIRING THE LANGUAGE. 95 

and therefore usually keeps his mouth shut ; 
whatever he may do with his pen. On this 
account, if one does not get a good start in 
the vernacular the first year, he is likely never 
to get it ; and study at home, however useful, 
does not take the place of study on the ground 
and among the people. 

While thus the common dialect of the people 
is attained, and employed, books, and what 
forms the poetic or high dialect in most Eastern 
languages, should not be neglected. On the 
contrary, the high dialect should be learned 
thoroughly, if circumstances allow. If there 
be a talent for languages, the Sanscrit, which is 
the parent of most of the dialects and the com- 
mon treasury from which all draw, may well 
be studied. The Tamil, for instance, though 
not a daughter of the Sanscrit, differing from 
that divine language, as it is called, in gram- 
mar, and in its rules of combination, yet bor- 
rows from it nearly all its abstract terms, and 
words connected with religion and science. 
As it is the language of the Vedas, and that, 
in which all the sacred books of the Hindus 
were originally written, it is held in great 



96 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

veneration. One who can quote from it is 
supposed to have the key to all religious mys- 
teries, and to be a suitable guide to inquirers ; 
but without this knowledge, confidence cannot 
be claimed. He who understands Sanscrit can 
meet the brahmans on their own ground, and 
go round them ; for most of their number 
only know enough of the language to say their 
muntra and recite such sentences as occur in 
their ceremonies. They do not themselves all 
read their sh asters.- The missionary who does 
this, has the advantage, even of the brahmans ; 
he also, by this means, increases his knowledge 
of the vernacular in the same manner as by the 
stud;)| of Latin, he obtains a better mastery of 
the English. 

Forms of Labor. — These will be determined 
in general for the missionary, by instructions 
from the officers of the society under which 
he acts, or some agent appointed by them. 
This is proper, because they represent those 
who have contributed the fund by which the 
missionaries are supported, and who have a 
right, in some way, to direct how those funds 
shall be expended. At the same time, while 



ORGANIZATION. 97 

the society and its officers, as representing 
those who contribute the funds for the mission, 
have a right to decide, in the main, what shall 
be done, the missionary who gives himself 
to the work, and is not to be regarded as a 
mere hireling, fully rewarded by having a liv- 
ing, should have a voice also in the decision. 
This is the more necessary as every missionary 
is not alike fitted for every kind of service^ 
and it is important to study the adaptation of 
the workman to his work. If you make one 
an educationist who knows not how to teach, 
or send another on an itineracy among the 
heathen, who is only qualified to nurse young 
converts, or do the work of a pastor, you have 
not the right man in the right place ; and may 
spoil a good missionary by not giving him a 
suitable field for his energies. 

It is therefore desirable that while the gen- 
eral course of the missionary should be marked 
out by those who send him forth, the details 
of operation, and casting of the parts, should 
be left very much to those on the ground. 

Organization for conducting Operations. — The 
societies of the Church of England for con- 
9 



98 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ducting missions in India, have committees in 
the country, to direct these missions, with aid 
of the bishop. These are composed of intel- 
ligent friends of the cause, both clergymen 
and laymen, not missionaries. The advantage 
of this is, that the committee, being independ- 
ent and impartial, and the members residing 
at some centre of information — where they 
may also meet and confer together — have bet- 
ter opportunities for directing affairs wisely, 
than perhaps some of the missionaries them- 
selves, and better certainly than those some 
thousand miles distant. They moreover afford 
a guarrantee to the public, that the money 
given shall be properly expended; and their 
advice and direction may be of use where 
missionaries have not experience, or are not 
agreed among themselves. 

The disadvantages are, that the operations 
of the missionary may be needlessly hampered 
by a committee at a distance from him, who 
have no practical knowledge of the work, and 
perhaps no special interest in it, while his own 
sense of responsibility will be weakened in pro- 
portion as his independence is destroyed. 



PLAN OF OPERATIONS. 99 

The plan followed by the other societies 
is, to give the management of details into the 
hands of responsible missionaries. The London 
and Wesleyan Missionary Societies direct their 
operations by a committee of the whole, or 
sometimes of a part, of the missionaries of the 
district. In the case of the Wesleyan, there is 
a superintendent of the missions, but he acts in 
concert with a committee of all the missionaries 
from Great Britain, who meet him once a year, to 
arrange the manning of the stations, the forms 
of operation, and the distribution of the funds. 

The London missionaries have also a com- 
mittee, composed of most of their foreign 
laborers, to which those brought forward in 
the country, whether English or East Indian, 
are eligible by election ; but it is not a matter 
of course that all the ordained missionaries 
should be members, especially if natives. The 
object is to have such a body as can be trusted 
by the directors at home, and therefore it must 
be usually composed of those sent out by them. 
This committee, composed of laborers scattered 
over a given district, settle questions relating 
to their operations, in circulation, receive their 



100 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

funds through a financial secretary, and meet 
occasionally for more important business, as 
circumstances may require. They are severally 
more independent of each other, and more im- 
mediately connected with the directors at home, 
than are most American missionaries with the 
committees of their societies. 

The missionaries of the American Board are 
united in larger or smaller missions, which, 
with plans of polity, more or less definite, 
regulate all the particulars of their work. 
They are usually composed of several families — 
say from three to twelve — -situated so near each 
other, as to be able to give mutual aid in sick- 
ness, and in their work, to meet for counsel 
and, for devotional purposes ; and, at stated 
times, to come together for the transaction of 
the business of the mission. 

With such a mission a physician is usually 
connected, who has the medical charge of all 
the families, and employs himself also in mis- 
sion-work, as he may be able. Such a mis- 
sion ; composed of men worthy of their place, 
personally engaged in active operations, ac- 
quainted with the native character, and the 



PLAX OF POLITY. 101 

capabilities and wants of the field, are better 
able to direct all the details of operation than 
any committee at a distance can be ; and it has 
been the policy of the Board to leave, with 
proper limitations, the appropriation of the 
funds granted to the mission — the arrange- 
ment of stations — and the different forms of 
operation, very much to those missions. The 
Prudential Committee in America only re- 
quire that carefully-prepared estimates of funds 
needed be sent to them in season for their an- 
nual grant of allowances, and that these, duly 
passed by the mission, be accompanied with 
reasons for any expenses out of the common 
course ; that accounts of all expenses be sent 
them yearly, and that journals and statements 
of labor be regularly transmitted to them. 
On this plan the details of operation are set- 
tled by the missions ; and as to the general 
course of procedure, and the objects to be 
kept in view, the opinion of the missionaries 
has always had much weight. May the time 
be far distant, when it shall be thought they 
are not to be trusted, and when a desire for 
centralization shall seek to connect them indi- 
9* 



102 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

vidually and directly with the Committee at 
home, instead of binding them as missions in 
united bodies firmly to the Prudential Com- 
mittee and the Board. Any thing unfavorable 
to that union among the missionaries them- 
selves which gives real strength, is to be 
deprecated, so long as they are worthy of 
their trust. If they use their strength im- 
properly and rebel against the Board which 
supports them, the remedy is at hand in the 
withdrawal of support. Segregating them, or 
preventing union for good, is to defeat the 
object for which they were sent out. Let 
a mission be worthy of support and capable 
of self-government, and then let it be left 
to depend on the Society which supports it for 
such an amount of funds as they can show 
reason for asking, in view of the ability of 
the Society, and the wants of the whole field ; 
and then under general directions, and in ac- 
cordance with the estimates submitted, let them 
distribute their allowances, and prosecute their 
work on their own responsibility. Too much 
legislation, whether at home or abroad, is to 
be earnestly deprecated. 

There will, from time to time, be special 



PLAN OF POLITY. 103 

questions to refer to the Committee at home, 
such as the return of missionaries, or the tak- 
ing up of new stations, purchase of lands or 
houses, altering the course of labor, etc., which, 
if time allow, should be referred home ; and 
which — as in the purchase of premises — may 
probably be specially reserved for that pur- 
pose in the instructions given; but these 
should be referred by the mission, and not 
by individuals. It is only when individuals, 
or the minority of a mission, have grievances 
to present which their brethren refuse to re- 
medy, that an appeal should be entertained. 
If every idle story of discontented missionaries 
be listened to by the Home Committees, 
much good time, which should be spent in mis- 
sion-work, will be lost in useless discussions, 
destructive of temper, peace, and brotherly 
love. It will be as if, in a family of children, 
instead of being taught to settle their little 
differences among themselves, with kind feel- 
ing, they be allowed to criminate each other be- 
fore their parents, and each strive to make his 
own appear the better cause ; and when thwart- 
ed in any thing to say, " I'll go and tell 



104 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

mamma." Indeed, when mamma is near at 
hand, this may be easy, and proper enough, 
"but not if across the waters. 

Forms of labor. — To determine these, we 
must keep in view the object to be gained. 
This is the extension and permanent estab- 
lishment of the true religion — including the 
conversion of souls, gathering converts into 
churches, placing over them native pastors, 
and introducing all the ordinances of the 
Gospel. A witnessing, aggressive, and self- 
supporting Christianity is to be introduced; 
and collaterally a healthy civilization, with 
proper social and domestic institutions, hav- 
ing "sweet homes" for their nucleus. 

The cultivation of the arts and sciences, and 
the general worldly prosperity of the people 
to whom the missionary is sent, he may en- 
courage in a subordinate manner, but not so 
as to interfere with his great object. He may 
be thankful if he can show that " godliness is 
profitable unto all things, having the promise 
of the life that now is, as well as of that which 
is to come," but it must be by teaching those to 
whom he has access, " to seek first the kingdom 



FOKMS OF LABOR. 105 

of God,' 7 in the assurance that "all these 
things shall be added unto them." 

It has often been contended that we must 
civilize before we can Christianize a people. 
Brainerd did not do so among the western 
Indians. He made known to them, as he found 
them, the love of Jesus, and many were melted 
to repentance. The Moravians did the same 
among the Greenlanders. Undoubtedly civil- 
ization, to a certain extent, should go hand in 
hand with Christianity. Had Brainerd, who 
in fact had a school, possessed the means of 
forming his Indian converts into settled com- 
munities, of establishing permanent schools 
among them, and teaching them something of 
agriculture and the common arts of civilized 
life, the results of his labors would have been 
more enduring. Among a savage and scat- 
tered people, it is necessary, in some way, to 
bring them together, before the gospel can be 
proclaimed to them with full effect. Settle- 
ments may therefore be formed, as they have 
been in Southern Africa by all the different 
missionaries. One of the oldest of this num- 
ber, a pioneer among several of the tribes of 



106 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the interior, told the writer of these hints, that 
he had often travelled a hundred miles, and seen 
only two or three persons. When thus scat- 
tered, undoubtedly, to do much good, some 
means must be taken to bring them together, 
and give them a " local habitation." But ail 
the tribes, even of Africa, are not scattered, 
and in India there is no occasion for forming 
settlements to bring people together, or of 
teaching those arts necessary for the existence 
of compact communities. The difficulty is in 
getting entrance into such communities, and 
of securing a proper hearing for the gospel 
message, for which preaching, schools, and the 
press are used. Let us, then, consider a little 
in detail these different methods. 

I. Pkeaching. — It need scarcely be said, be- 
cause generally admitted, that the preaching 
of the gospel, in the more strict and proper 
application of that phrase, is usually the first 
and principal duty of a missionary to the 
heathen. " It pleases God by the foolishness 
of preaching to save them that believe." We 
must not, however, understand by this the 
enunciation of a regular sermon from some 



PREACHING. 107 

text of Scripture. " Preaching is proclaiming 
God's Word, and causing the people to under- 
stand the sense," with personal application of 
moral truth to every man's conscience in the 
sight of God.* " Christ often preached sitting 
by the sea-side, and sometimes upon a moun- 
tain. Philip preached to the eunuch of Ethi- 
opia, while seated with him in a chariot ; Peter 
preached to Cornelius and his kinsmen in a 
private dwelling-house ; Paul and Silas to the 
jailor and his household in the middle of the 
night ; Paul disputed, or, more properly, 
preached daily in the school of Tyrannus ; 
and so may the missionary at the present 
day preach whenever and wherever he can 
find even one to hear him. He may preach 
in a school-house, either to the members of a 
school, or others; but it should be kept in 
mind that the ordinary work of a teacher in a 
secular school is not preaching, "f 

As to the manner of preaching to the Hin- 
dus, that of our Saviour to the Jews is the 
best model — as dealing largely in Scripture, 
and being often historical and parabolic. The 

* Rev. L. Spaulding f Rev, J. Herrick. 



108 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

Hindus reverence the authority of Scripture, 
as they do that of any ancient writings, though 
they do not believe the Bible as the only in- 
spired revelation of God ; and they are quick 
to understand a comparison, a historical illus- 
tration, or a parable in any shape. A single 
text of Scripture, or line of poetry from their 
own books, will often go farther than a long 
discourse, especially if the logic of the dis- 
course be at all abstract; and a proverb or 
parable is with them better than an argument. 
As intimated above, there are .different places 
for preaching, and discourses may be of very 
different kinds. 

Street and Bazaar Preaching. — Many exalt 
this beyond its proper value, and others think 
of it too lightly. Generally there is not much 
reason to hope for saving results from a single 
proclamation of the gospel to those entirely 
ignorant of its nature, and who are opposed to 
its requirements. The Spirit may bless a 
single word, and inquiry at least may be ex- 
cited, which may lead to good results. Some- 
times the street or bazaar may be the only 
place in which a missionary can preach. 



STREET AND BAZAAR PREACHING. 109 

Where there are large gatherings of people, 
as at some fairs, and at the principal temples 
where festivals are celebrated, something may- 
be done by missionaries, or their assistants, if 
well qualified to address tumultuous audiences. 
A stand may be taken a little apart from the 
immediate vicinity of the procession ; and 
tracts and books may also be distributed to 
some advantage. It is better, however, to dis- 
tribute tracts and books to the people, as they 
are leaving for their homes, rather than while 
remaining near the temple. It is better also on 
such, festival occasions, when great multitudes 
are collected, and all are " mad upon their 
idols," to take a shed or room in some retired 
place, to which such as are inclined may have 
easy access, and there speak to them in small 
companies. The writer has done this, going 
into a room large enough, to accommodate 
thirty or forty at a time; and admitting by 
turns those wishing to come in, addressing 
them as long as seemed best, giving each a 
tract or portion of Scripture, and then dismiss- 
ing them. In this way the fragrant name of 

Jesus may be " as ointment" poured forth, and 
10 



110 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

a testimony given to the truth. It is not al- 
ways labor lost or time misspent, but neither 
the missionary nor his friends must measure 
his usefulness or prospects of success by the 
numbers he may thus address. He may speak 
to hundreds or thousands, on these or other 
occasions, and yet produce very little impres- 
sion. 

Speaking at and in private houses. — The 
Apostle Paul, in recounting to the elders of 
Ephesus his labors, could say, " I have taught 
you publicly and from house to house." This 
is an improvement on street or bazaar preach- 
ing, where it is practicable. It is by "line 
upon line, and precept upon precept" princi- 
pally, that saving results are to be expected. 
There is also much advantage in personal ap- 
plication of the truth. When large numbers 
are addressed, each, perhaps, hears for another, 
and not himself; at any rate the truth is so 
divided among many, that no one may feel its 
point in his own breast. In visiting from 
house to house, and speaking in a more private 
manner to individuals, or to a small company, 
there is a better opportunity of repeating the 



ITINERATING. Ill 

impression, and also of sending the arrows of 
conviction directly to the heart. In going 
from house to house, there may be often diffi- 
culty in getting access to the inmates of high 
castes, especially in cities. The females are 
nearly inaccessible to a missionary. His wife 
may venture where he cannot, in attempts to 
approach the more secluded classes, but they 
must be operated upon at first principally 
through the children, and to some extent by 
books. 

Itinerating. — That the gospel may be ex- 
tended abroad, and " preached as a witness," 
missionaries must often go on tours. In every 
large mission it would be well to have one or 
two whose principal business should be to 
itinerate. The Church Mission in Tinnevelly 
is favored in having, at this time, no less than 
three men of superior qualifications, devoted 
to itinerant labors, within and beyond the im- 
mediate sphere of the mission. One of these 
has already been referred to as holding a 
scholarship in an English university, which is 
adequate to his support, and enables him to 
devote himself to this work without charge to 



112 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

his society. He was for some time the secre- 
tary of their committee in Madras, and there 
studied the Tamil language. Though most 
acceptable as an English preacher, and in a 
station of influence at the presidency, he was 
obliged to leave for England, on account of 
ill-health, and on his return, instead of resum- 
ing those duties, he chose to become an itin- 
erant with two other young brethren, who 
were sent out by the society for the purpose. 
Their labors have already done much to excite 
the native church to emulation, in the same 
work ; and more than one individual from 
among the converts may be pointed out al- 
ready as engaged, at least some part of the 
time, in carrying the gospel without charge to 
the " regions beyond." 

It must not be left, however, entirely to 
itinerants devoted to that work, to sound forth 
the gospel. Every missionary whose health 
and circumstances allow, should, at least occa- 
sionally, go on tours. It will usually be con- 
ducive to his bodily health, and do much to 
keep alive his missionary spirit, and enlarge 
his views of the work ; while it will directly 



ITINEEATING. 113 

promote the object for which he lives and 
labors. 

In prosecuting this work, it will be well if 
the tourist can repeat his visits at intervals, to 
the same place, and stay long enough in every 
principal town or village to form some real 
acquaintance with the people, and to follow up 
any impressions which may be made. The 
American missionaries in Bombay, who have 
had a good deal of experience in this depart- 
ment of the work, say in their report to the 
late deputation of the board : 

" A great amount of time and labor have been 
expended in making tours, and preaching to 
the people of distant villages, towns, and cities. 
These labors were commenced soon after the 
arrival of our missionaries at Bombay, and 
have been continued at all our stations, more 
or less, ever since. These tours have been more 
distant, extending sometimes to three hundred 
miles from the residence of the missionary ; 
or they have been made to a particular field 
where interest has been manifested and where 
the object has been to follow up the impres- 
sions previously made by the truth ; or they 
10* 



114 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

have been made to neighboring villages, where 
the missionary, having pitched his tent at some 
central place, holds daily religions services 
there and visits the villages immediately 
around, and after a few clays passes on with 
his tent to another central village. Each of 
these modes of making tours is attended with 
some peculiar advantages. It seems important 
that the missionary should stay long enough 
in a place to see whether any interest is devel- 
oped in any mind in connection with his 
preaching, and wherever any interest appears 
to be excited, to follow it up with further in- 
struction ; and it is important also that repeated 
visits should be made to places where the Holy 
Spirit seems to be working on the minds of 
men. By thus co-operating with Grod, follow- 
ing where He leads, and laboring where his 
providence directs, we may expect the most 
satisfactory results of our labors. And where- 
ever several individuals are converted to God, 
there a native catechist should be placed, and 
the interest extended as far as possible ; and 
new centres of light being thus established one 
after another, we may hope for the more rapid 



PKEACHING IN ZAYATS AND SCHOOLS. 115 

diffusion of the knowledge of the gospel 
through the whole country around. In all 
our endeavors to preach the gospel it seems 
very important that the providences of God 
should be watched and carefully followed, and 
although hopes may often be disappointed, yet 
God will not let his Word return unto him 
void. We know not which shall prosper this 
or that, but we may rest assured that some 
seed shall spring up and bear fruit to the praise 
of his glory." 

Preaching in Zayats and Schools. — By the 
former is understood some house or room on a 
thoroughfare, where a missionary may spend 
so much time as he may have at command for 
the purpose, in speaking on the subject of the 
great salvation to such as may call ; and preach 
at stated times to those who may there be col- 
lected together. At the schools, he also has a 
similar opportunity, and has the advantage of 
some part of an audience in the scholars. 
This latter form of labor was very much fol- 
lowed in Ceylon, when the writer was there, 
and the scholars often induced their parents. 



116 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

especially their fathers, and sometimes their 
mothers, to attend. 

Concerning this, the Rev. L. Spaulding says, 
in his report on preaching : 

"In connection with our village schools, our 
method has been to make an appointment, 
(statedly or occasionally, as the case may be), 
and to require the teacher to give notice of the 
meeting. Our native assistants make that vil- 
lage the field of their labor for that day, going 
from house to house, reading tracts or portions 
of the Bible, conversing with all they meet, 
and giving notice of the evening meeting. 
The missionary himself, as often as health and 
other circumstances will allow, joins in this 
previous preparation. At early candle light- 
ing, the people assemble at the bungalow. Our 
practice may vary a little, but generally the 
meeting is opened by prayer and by reading a 
portion of the Bible. Some leading truth in 
the portion read is then taken for the subject, 
and the missionary and one or two of his 
native assistants address the assembly, using 
explanations, parables, applications, exhorta- 
tions and appeals, with all the fearlessness and 



PREACHING IN SCHOOLS. 117 

confidence of 'thus saith the Lord.' Ques- 
tions are answered, and the meeting is closed 
with prayer. 

" The place of these assemblies has not been 
confined to the village school-house. Head 
men and others who have a convenient place 
for such a gathering, not -unfrequently invite 
us to hold meetings in their own compounds, 
or readily accommodate us when requested. 
In many places the shade of a great tree or an 
open field has been found even better than the 
school-house for such gatherings, when the 
weather would permit, and the bright moon- 
light invited. * * * 

"Simple oral declaration of the Word of God, 
by way of sermons or exhortations, as an 
agency by itself, has not appeared to have 
been distinguished above other departments 
of missionary work in the conversion of men. 
God has blessed us ' in all we have put our 
hand unto,' and every day's experience has 
convinced us that the people 'need to be 
taught what be the first principles of the 
oracles of God, and have need of milk and 
not of strong meat.' Hence the necessity of 



118 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

frequent interviews with such children, youth, 
and adults, as seem inclined to listen, for in- 
struction, exhortation and prayer. Whether 
preaching, teaching, or discipling, this has been 
our great work — our united supplication. * * * 

" Greatly encouraged by past experience, 
your committee would urge upon the attention 
of each missionary, pastor, and catechist, the 
great advantage of frequent and personal visits 
to individuals for reading the Bible, for con- 
versation and prayer. 

" This is considered a most efficient mode of 
making known the gospel. It fastens the nail 
in a sure place. Christian schools, when the 
Bible is made the principal text-book, may do 
much to remove prejudice and superstition. 
The eye and soul of the missionary in address- 
ing assemblies and congregations, have done 
and may do much more to impress Divine 
truth on the minds of this dark-hearted and 
deceitful people. But, personal and frequent 
application of the truth seems absolutely 
needed, in order to arrest the attention suffi- 
ciently to secure the object. * * * 

"We should ever keep in mind, that 'the 



PREACHING IK SCHOOLS. 119 

race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the 
strong.' Until the Spirit of God moved upon 
the face of the waters, the world could not be 
organized ; so until the Spirit of God descends 
to melt and remove the love of ungodliness, 
which has so freely flowed and petrified over 
the masses of India for these four thousand 
years, we cannot expect plants of righteous- 
ness to grow up into the garden of God. We 
have laid the wood on the altar. We have 
divided the sacrifice into various parts, and 
laid them on the wood. We have looked up 
to the Lord God of Israel for the manifestation 
of his presence and power. We have seen 
the fire kindle again and again, in times of 
precious revivals, and our hearts have cried 
out with weeping joy, ' Behold, now is the ac- 
cepted time ; behold, now is the day of salva- 
tion ;' but some blast from Baal, or the letting 
down of the hands of Moses, has quenched 
the kindling flame, and left only here and 
there a few live coals. But even this has been 
exceedingly encouraging, as it shows how easy 
it will be for God to flood the whole land with 
his glory, as we have seen his presence in our 



120 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

schools ; and these live coals, when collected 
together, may help to kindle the whole pile, 
and show 'how great a matter a little fire 
kindleth.' But until our prayers become 
more importunate, and our dependence on the 
means employed more despairing, the fire from 
heaven will not descend to consume the sacri- 
fice ; the prophets of Baal will not be slain ; 
nor the people unite in the exclamation, ' The 
Lord, he is the God ! the Lord, he is the 
God! 7 " 

There can be no doubt that this is a promis- 
ing method of making known the gospel, and 
its influence in the schools may be increased by 
calling upon some of the pupils to sing stanzas 
showing the folly of idolatry, or excellence of 
Christianity, or to recite, in presence of those 
assembled, some of their Scripture lessons. 
The Hindus are very fond of poetry, and any- 
thing addressed to them in songs is heard 
with pleasure, and thought to have authority. 
This plan was pursued in a zayat at Chintadre- 
pettah in Madras, and some cases of inquiry, 
and conversion were the result. The preacher 
may also, in such places, and even in the church 



PREACHING IN CHURCHES. 121 

on the Sabbath, use more or less the catechet- 
ical method in his addresses and sermons, call- 
ing for a repetition of what he has said, or 
putting questions to ascertain if it be under- 
stood. This serves to awaken curiosity and 
excite interest. 

It has been objected that these schools do 
not help to form permanent congregations. If 
by these is meant nominally Christian com- 
munities, or villages separate from the central 
church, at which the missionary resides, it has 
not been usually attempted, as perhaps it should 
have been earlier ; but that they do not form 
audiences and congregations, consisting of 
many of the same persons, from month to 
month, and even year to year, is not true. The 
object in such cases has generally been, not to 
gather the people attending preaching in these 
schools into permanent congregations, but from 
them to receive into the church at the station 
such as may appear to be converted. The way 
has been prepared, however, for forming also 
Christian congregations or villages. 

Preaching in Chapel, Church, or Meeting- 
house. — Wherever, or however else the gospel 

11 



122 HINTS OK INDIAN MISSIONS. 

is made known, some suitable stated place of 
worship, where the minister may not only pro- 
claim his message without interruption, and 
officially lead his people in prayer and praise, 
but administer the ordinances of baptism and 
the Lord's Supper, is quite essential. For the 
sake of the heathen, he needs this to show 
what Christian worship is, and for the sake of 
the converts he needs it, that they may join 
in such worship to the best advantage. There 
is also a special promise of Grod to be pleaded, 
for He has said, "In all places where I record 
my name, I will come unto thee, and I will 
bless thee." 

The Deputation say : 

"We have been led to attach great import- 
ance to the maintenance of regular preaching, 
in some one place, at each station, on the 
Lord's day ; and to its being done forenoon 
and afternoon. It may require long time and 
the auxiliary influence of all the other forms 
of preachiog, to procure and sustain even a 
small congregation for this service. But the 
tone of the enterprise cannot be kept suffi- 
ciently high without it. The missionary him- 



PKEACHING IN CHURCHES. 123 

self needs it. He needs the preparation, the 
effort, the reacting influence upon his own 
mind and heart. He needs a service where he 
can speak, ex-cathedra, as an ambassador, 
authoritatively, without the humiliation of 
rude objections and foul abuse. And the 
native Christians need it, twice on the Sab- 
bath. They need the full development and 
force of God's own institution; of regular, 
well studied exhibitions of the plan of salva- 
tion, and of their duty as Christians. They 
cannot be elevated as they should be without 
it. Prayer-meetings, conferences, conversa- 
tional preaching, etc., etc., they will need 
abundantly; but they can never attain their 
full stature as Christians, without the regular, 
stated, formal preaching of the Word. Such 
preaching on the Sabbath is of the last im- 
portance to the success of the mission. It 
distinguishes and honors the Sabbath. It is 
one of the grand recuperative powers in a mis- 
sion. The heathen see the missionary then in 
his true place and dignity. They may not 
often go to hear him, but they will know that 
there is a place and a time, when he speaks 



124 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

and when, none may reply, when he assumes 
authority to speak where it is the sole busi- 
ness of all present to hear. Nor would we 
ever admit that at such times, one may inter- 
rupt with objections, nor even with inquiries. 
Thus we would make the Sabbath directly 
auxiliary to the preached word ; and claim for 
it and for Christ's ministers on such an occa- 
sion, the weight and authority, which belong 
to the one as the Lord's day and to the other 
as the Lord's ministry." 

This is well said. Although there is no 
longer a priesthood, distinct from the Church 
itself, but every believer is a king and a priest 
unto God, and there is but one great High- 
priest in heaven, who has entered into the holy 
of holies for us all, yet " He has given some 
apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and 
some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of 
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
edifying of the body of Christ ;" and the native 
Church should have the advantage of this min- 
istry in its completeness. The office of apostles 
and prophets has ceased with the attainment of 
the design for which these were given— the es- 



ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOLS. 125 

tablishment of Christianity — but that of the 
others remains, and should never be in abey- 
ance. Any missionary who knows by ex- 
perience the difference between speaking in 
the streets, or even in more favorable places, 
to heathens, or other unconverted persons, and 
preaching to a regular audience, in which 
there are some to sympathize with him, and 
where all are at least quiet, and where he may 
have the devotional exercises of prayer and 
praise, knows that these adjuncts are necessary 
to give his preaching its fullest effect ; and there 
are few missionaries who, without such aids, 
can continually labor only with ridiculing idol- 
aters, without finding his spirit drying up, and 
even his intellect becoming dwarfish. A mis- 
sionary, somewhat isolated from the world, 
needs to have all his energies periodically 
drawn out and fully exercised, in order to 
keep them properly alive. 

II. Schools. — In examining this form of 
operation, we must bear in mind that great 
diversity of opinion exists regarding them 
even among missionaries, and still greater 

among their most intelligent supporters. We 
11* 



126 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

will examine briefly the different kinds of 
schools. 

English High Schools. — Most, probably, are 
aware that the Scotch missionaries, more 
than twenty years ago, commenced English 
High Schools on a large scale for the native 
youth at Calcutta and Bombay ; and soon 
after, also, at Madras ; and still more recently 
at Nagpore. In Calcutta Dr. Duff was at the 
head of this movement, and expressed publicly 
his opinion that it was the only one calculated 
to reach the Hindus, especially those of the 
higher classes, effectually. In fact, he then 
contended, though he seems to have altered 
his views somewhat since, that the natives 
generally must be taught in schools before 
much could be done among them by oral 
preaching; that they were not a people pre- 
pared to receive the Gospel, and could not be 
expected to understand it. In regard to the 
importance of English in the system of teach- 
ing, in preference to Sanscrit, which, with the 
vernaculars, had the advocacy of the Seram- 
pore missionaries in the plan of their college, 
he had been anticipated by the American 



ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOLS. 127 

missionaries in Ceylon in the prospectus of a 
seminary in Jaffna. These had shown that 
while Sanscrit for the Hindus could only be 
compared in value to Latin for the European 
— both having, as dead languages, yielded up 
most of their treasures to living tongues — a 
knowledge of English would be a key to open 
nearly all the treasures of European literature, 
art and science. 

The institutions for teaching the English 
language and Western science in connection 
with the vernacular, and with the Bible, as a 
constant text-book in religion, thus com- 
menced by the American and Scottish mis- 
sionaries on a broader basis than had before 
been attempted, have accomplished very 
marked results, especially among the middle 
and higher classes of natives, whether Hindu, 
Mohammedan, or Parsee. Establishments sim- 
ilar to the Scotch schools, which were for day 
scholars, while those in Jaffna were princi- 
pally for boarders, have been commenced 
by the missionaries of other societies also, 
in most of the large towns of India. The 
London Missionary Society, the Wesleyan 



128 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

and the Americans, all have High Schools 
like those of the Scotch. Much has already 
been effected by them; as much, perhaps, as 
could be rationally expected, considering the 
obstacles to be surmounted. The folio wing- 
statement of what has been done in Madras 
by the missionaries of the Free Church of 
Scotland, furnished to the Madras Missionary 
Conference, gives a favorable specimen of the 
fruits of this kind of labor. 

" Their mission, now in the eighteenth year 
of its existence, commenced with the Chris- 
tian education of the rising generation of the 
Hindus and Mohammedans with a view to their 
highest interests, both for time and eternity. 
The avowed object, from the outset, was con- 
version, and every branch of knowledge taught 
in the school, whether English or vernacular, 
was made subservient to this end. The mis- 
sionaries, from the beginning, had two grand 
objects in view. First, they pressed home on 
the consciences of their pupils the gospel as 
taught in God's Word, day by day, in season 
and out of season, with the view of bringing 
them to Christ, preaching, not only in English 



SCOTCH SCHOOLS. 129 

to the educated few, but through interpreters 
in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindustani, to their 
pupils, and all who came within their in- 
fluence. It was thus that the first three mis- 
sionaries, after four years' labor, laid, by God's 
blessing, the foundations of the mission, with- 
out detriment to a single branch of the secular 
education taught along with the Word of God. 
Second, they trained up from the converts 
whom Grod gave them native Christian teach- 
ers and preachers, that the benefits of a sound 
Christian education and the blessings of the 
gospel of Christ, might be. effectually diffused, 
not only through the medium of English to 
the few, but of the vernacular languages, 
Tamil, Telugu, and Hindustani, among the 
masses of the Hindu and Mohammedan com- 
munities. 

a From the central institution in Black 
Town, four offshoots, or branches, have sprung, 
the most recent of which was begun nearly 
fourteen years ago. These branch schools are 
at Conjeveram, Chingleput, Nellore, and Trip- 
licane, all stations of great importance, as nu- 
clei of missions, and as regards the spread of 



130 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the gospel among the Hindus and Mohamme- 
dans around. Through these channels the 
mission has, from its commencement, supplied 
a superior Christian education to upwards of 
eight thousand young Hindus and Moham- 
medans of the more respectable classes and caste 
families, inclusive of eight hundred Hindu 
girls of caste. The minds of very many of 
these pupils have been deeply imbued with 
the vital doctrines, and with the promises and 
precepts, of (rod's "Word, explained to them, 
while under instruction in their own tongues, 
as well as in English. The leaven of the gos- 
pel has thus been carried into the bosom of 
thousands of Hindu families, impervious to 
direct preaching, by those who will themselves 
hereafter be the heads of families. Who can 
foretell the results when the Spirit breathes on 
the Word and quickens souls into life by it ? 

u Since 1842, the gospel has been directly 
preached in Tamil, and Telugu, by converted 
Hindus, to their countrymen, statedly at Ma- 
dras, and periodically at all the out-stations of 
the mission. The schools are in fact preaching 
houses, where the European missionaries, 



SCOTCH SCHOOLS. 131 

through interpreters, or in English, to the 
advanced scholars, and the native mission- 
aries and catechists in their own vernacular 
tongues, have preached Christ to all the pupils, 
and to many thousands of adults, not a few 
of them belonging to the higher castes and in- 
fluential classes of native society, who could 
not have been reached by the gospel in any 
other way. 

" As to the material on which the mission- 
aries daily operate : — in the Central Institute 
at Madras, and its four branches, there are 
at present on the roll upwards of two thousand 
two hundred and fifty scholars, nearly two 
thousand of whom are daily in attendance. 
The pupils vary in age from six to fifteen, 
twenty, twenty-five, and thirty ; embracing 
every caste from the brahman to the pariah. 
About a hundred and eighty of the male 
pupils are brahmans, and two hundred are 
Mohammedans. Upwards of six hundred are 
Hindu girls, mostly of caste, with a small 
number of Moslem girls. On each of these 
pupils, according to their age and circum- 
stances, the gospel is pressed home at stated 



182 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

periods by the missionaries, European and 
native ; and by the native Christian teachers 
and catechists. It thus appears that, though 
the missionaries began with Christian educa- 
tion and preaching daily in their schools to 
the young, they did not end there ; but preached 
the gospel to many of the parents and rela- 
tives of their pupils, as well as to other influ- 
ential adults, in circumstances highly favorable 
for impression. 

" To raise up a qualified and thoroughly- 
equipped native agency, to teach and preach 
Christ, has been, from the first, one of the 
chief ends of the mission. After five years 
of anxious training, during which they acted 
as catechists, the Eev. P. Eajahgopaul, the 
Eev. A. Venkataramiah, and the Eev. S. Et- 
tirajooloo, the last of whom is now laboring at 
the Nellore station among the Telugus, were, 
in 1846, licensed to preach the gospel, and 
three years ago ordained. They preach and 
make known the gospel to every class of their 
people of both sexes, in three languages ; 
in Tamil and Telugu, to all who understand 
these languages, and at stated seasons in En- 



SCOTCH SCHOOLS. 133 

glish, not only to Europeans and East Indians, 
but also to educated natives, both. Christian 
and heathen. These three native ministers 
have, since 1842, preached in the native 
tongues, five years as catechists, five years as 
licentiates, and three years as ordained mis- 
sionaries of the Free Church. It is encourag- 
ing to note that every Sabbath, day they preach 
in Tamil and Telugu, to increasing audiences 
of Hindus and Mohammedans, averaging, 
throughout the year, upwards of twelve hun- 
dred. This they do at Madras, where, after a 
native Sabbath-school is held for an hour, the 
native Christian congregation statedly assem- 
bles ; at Triplicane, where, after the Sabbath- 
school, there is a preaching-house open every 
Sabbath day on the great Mount Eoad tho- 
roughfare, in which the gospel is proclaimed 
for hours in Tamil and Telugu, by a native 
minister and catechists, to Hindus, and in 
Hindustani to Mohammedans, by two Moham- 
medan converts ; and at Nellore, by the Eev. S. 
Ettirajooloo, in Telugu, in the hall of the 
School-house, after an hour has been spent in 
teaching the Sabbath-school. Of these twelve 



184 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

hundred hearers, a very large number are 
Hindu adults with a fair proportion of Moham- 
medans. The rest are boys and girls and edu- 
cated young Hindus belonging to the schools 
of every caste and class from the highest 
to the lowest grade of native society. The 
mission thus preaches the gospel to every 
class of the people, and it at times has been 
so carried home, in demonstration of the Spirit 
and of power, as to convulse the Hindu com- 
munity at Madras, and to evince in some of 
the conversions both of males and females 
from different classes and castes, that the doc- 
trine of Christ and him crucified has proved 
itself, as of old, the power of God to salvation, 
and has been felt to be aggressive. 

" The native Christian congregation at Mad- 
ras is mainly the fruit of teaching and preaching 
in the schools, both on week and Sabbath 
days. It has increased since 1841 from three 
Hindu young men, as first-fruits, to upwards 
of a hundred converts male and female, of 
whom more than sixty are communicants. A 
large proportion of this number were brought 
into the church from respectable caste families 



SCOTCH SCHOOLSv 135 

at Madras and the "branch schools. In the 
midst of much opposition, all these literally 
forsook father and mother, and all that they 
held dear for Christ, and broke their caste at 
baptism. This, considering the way in which 
caste has been tampered with in the native 
Christian church, is not one of the least proofs 
of the power of a preached gospel in the mis- 
sion. Many of the converts are well educated, 
some of them highly so, and maintain them- 
selves as teachers, catechists, writers, and medi- 
cal pupils. They are almost all able, as well 
males as females, to speak English, and to 
read and understand books and discourses in 
it, in addition to knowing their own tongues, 
Tamil, Telugu, Hindustani and Malyalim. 
The missionaries have heard of more than ten 
young Hindus, who received their first impres- 
sions and convictions of the truth of Chris- 
tianity in their schools, baptized in other mis- 
sions in different parts of India ; and doubtless 
there have been other cases not reported to 
them. 

" Besides the three ordained native mission- 
aries, a band of ten students are preparing for 



136 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the work of the ministry in the collegiate de- 
partment of the Madras Institution. Four of 
this number are, God willing, to be licensed 
by the Madras Free Church Presbytery this 
year. In addition to a knowledge of English, 
they have been taught the Greek and He- 
brew Scriptures, mathematics, church history, 
and theology. It forms a part of the prepara- 
tory training of each of these students to 
preach the gospel in their own tongues, not 
only to the young but to adults. They enjoy 
many a precious opportunity of thus making 
Christ known, both on week days and Sab- 
baths, and for weeks together, during the an- 
nual visits to the branch-schools. Six native 
Christian teachers, along with eight younger 
converts, are training up for usefulness in the 
work. Though thoroughly trained in English, 
they do not neglect their own tongues, but 
speak, explain to their scholars, and occa- 
sionally deliver addresses in them. As to the 
ten converts in government employ, they have 
shown a ready mind to teach the gospel in the 
mission Sabbath-schools, and to preach Christ, 
when occasion offers, in their own tongues to 



SCOTCH SCHOOLS. 137 

their countrymen. It thus appears that a lit- 
tle band of Christian Hindus, and two Moham- 
medan converts, daily labor, side by side with 
their European instructors and East Indian as- 
sistants, in teaching the young, and preaching 
Christ to large numbers of old and young. 

" Among other results bearing on the pro- 
gress of the gospel in this land, the mission 
has been honored to give a great . impulse to 
native education, male and female. Fifteen 
years ago it grappled with and settled the 
question of caste, at least as regards its princi- 
ple in native schools and native Christian 
churches. It has sent forth not a few well 
educated young men to conduct and assist in 
Christian schools, and to set a-going among the 
Hindu community schools of their own, both 
for males and females. Above all, it has been 
privileged to imbue with the leaven of God's 
word many thousands of Hindu youths and 
hundreds of Mohammedans, and has thus been 
paving the way for greater triumphs of the 
Gospel in the day of the Lord's power." 

In the same document for the conference is 
furnished, by the writer of these hints, a state- 



138 HINTS OX INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ment in reference to the High School in 
Madras, and other labors. 

" The missionary at Chintadrepettah super- 
intends four native vernacular schools with two 
hundred, and twenty boys, one for girls, with 
one hundred and twenty pupils, and an En- 
glish and vernacular grammar-school of two 
hundred and forty youths, with whom he 
spends, upon an average, about one hour each 
morning, in giving religious instruction. He 
also devotes four hours each day to the prepara- 
tion and printing of a Tamil and English Dic- 
tionary, which is a needed help to missionaries ; 
and, although some portion of his remaining 
time is given to the business of his own and 
other missions of the society with which he is 
connected — and for which he acts as a finan- 
cial agent — and some parts of it to translation, 
revision and other committees, yet he does 
4 preach to the people/ and does it as f his 
business,' and not 'incidentally.' He spends 
as many hours in preaching to the natives 
regularly -prepared sermons in Tamil, and ad- 
dressing them on religious subjects in that lan- 
guage, and in English, as if he went two hours 



CHIOTADREPETTAH STATION. 139 

each week-day to the bazaar to preach. In 
the church, where he holds divine service 
twice every Lord's day, he has large congrega- 
tions, especially on Sabbath mornings, num- 
bering from four to six hundred, including the 
pupils. In a zayat, where he preaches once a 
week, and in the school-rooms of out schools, 
from time to time, he has numerous heathens 
as hearers. He has the care of a native church, 
with forty communicants, to whom, with sev- 
eral candidates and young persons, he lectures 
once a week. He also meets the teachers and 
pupils of the vernacular schools, for an hour 
or more, each week, in Bible classes, and the 
same time on Sabbath mornings in a Sunday- 
school for them, and another for all the pupils 
in the English school. 

" If this labor is not all preaching to the 
people, it is most of it making known the gos- 
pel, and is all designed to be for the promotion 
of Christianity. Four young men, baptized 
while in the English school, in which three of 
them are now teaching — the other being an 
assistant catechist — and four more, at least, 
who received in it good impressions, and have 



140 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

been baptized elsewhere, are witnesses that 
the Great Master does not wholly disapprove 
of this form of labor." 

The English schools for native youth, are 
more peculiarly adapted to the circumstances 
of the large towns, which are the seat of gov- 
ernment and centres of commerce ; and must, 
if established at all, be but limited in other 
locations. It was thought by the late Deputa- 
tion, on its visit to the Madura and Ceylon 
missions, that the limit had in those places 
been already reached, and that English should 
be dispensed with, except as a classic for the 
more advanced students. They also advised 
the suspension of an institute, then recently 
commenced at Bombay, for the establishment 
of which, the missionaries had given, among 
others, the following cogent reasons : 

" A very great desire has sprung up among 
the natives of this country to obtain a knowl- 
edge of the English language, literature, and 
science. That which sprang up in Europe, 
just before the dawn of the Eeformation, for 
the classical tongues and classical lore, was not 
more eager or more general. We need not now 



BOMBAY HIGH SCHOOL. 141 

inquire minutely into the origin of this desire 
for English learning on the part of the people 
of this presidency. Neither need we discuss 
the propriety or otherwise of such a desire. 
We may just remark that there is no mystery 
about its existence. It is perfectly natural un- 
der the circumstances. Hindus find them- 
selves brought, in the providence of God, 
into contact with a race who exhibit not only 
great military superiority, but a wisdom and 
ingenuity, an acquaintance with undreamed-of 
powers of nature, an extent of knowledge, a 
command of resources, a height of civilization, 
immeasurably above any thing that they were 
ever in contact with before. One of two 
things could not but result from a meeting 
of two races so very different. Either the in- 
ferior race must become disheartened and 
paralyzed by the thought of the unapproach- 
able superiority of the other, lose its energy, 
and perhaps dwindle away as the aborigines 
of America and the natives of the Pacific 
islands are doing; or it must be stimulated 
into a desire to obtain those things which, 
seem to be most intimately connected with the 



142 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

superiority of the other race. The latter is the 
case in India. The inhabitants of this coun- 
try admit the fact of their inferiority in the 
scale of civilization, but are not disposed 
to submit to it as a thing that must inevi- 
tably continue to be. They have been seized 
with the spirit of progress. This manifests 
itself, of course, more among some classes 
than others ; more in the cities than in the 
interior ; more among the young than among 
the aged ; more among the middling and 
higher castes, than among those which are 
reputed the lowest. 

" What we make use of in our argument is 
the simple fact. The desire exists. It will 
not be suppressed. It is clearly destined to 
wax stronger and stronger. It just as much 
demands our attention as any other fact in the 
providence of God. The young men of Bom- 
bay are ready to flock to educational institu- 
tions where they may obtain a knowledge of 
the English language and the things connected 
with it; and they are not deterred by the 
fact that the Word of God is there taught and 
the claims of Christianity urged upon them.. 



BOMBAY HIGH SCHOOL. 143 

Shall the missionary avail himself of this 
readiness on their part, and embrace this as 
one mode of fulfilling the command to preach 
the gospel to every creature ? 

" The above argument did not, of itself, lead 
the members of the American mission in Bom- 
bay to decide that it was desirable to include 
in the operations of that mission an English 
High School. The following consideration 
had chief weight in bringing them to admit 
the desirableness of it. The thirst for English 
education entertained by the native youth of 
this presidency is fully shared by those of 
them who have embraced Christianity. That 
these should wish and seek for the opportunity 
of self-improvement is not to be wondered at. 
The Christian missionaries, with whom they 
are in close intercourse, are men of education, 
who value mental discipline, who bring their 
stores of information to bear upon whatever 
they take in hand, who urge it as an incidental 
proof of the superiority of Christianity that it 
elevates man in his entire character, social, 
moral, and intellectual, and who regard the 
education of their children as of very great im- 



144 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

portance. That the young men in contact 
with, them, and under their care, should be- 
come animated with a desire to fit themselves 
in all ways to occupy a position of influence 
in the land, is not strange. At all events, it 
is a fact that young men, connected with the 
American missions in Western India, have 
shown such aspirations, and under the influ- 
ence of them, wisely or unwisely, many of the 
most promising have left the Dakhan and re- 
paired to Bombay to avail themselves of the 
advantages enjoyed in missionary institutions 
there. It is quite possible that they sacrificed 
other advantages of another kind, in so doing. 
But they were not disposed so to regard it. 
They came to Bombay, one and another and 
others in succession. The members of the 
Bombay American mission saw, with regret, 
that the tide was setting past themselves, and 
that the converts of the American missions in 
the Dakhan, the members most likely to be 
influential and useful, were passing under the 
care of brethren of other denominations. In 
this regret no feeling of sectarian jealousy min- 
gled. In every point of view it certainly 



HIGH SCHOOL IN BOMBAY. 145 

seemed desirable that those who had been the 
means of converting these persons, should 
have the future direction of them and enjoy 
their assistance in the field to which they 
naturally belonged, and where they were most 
likely to be useful. This it is believed was 
the consideration that first powerfully awaken- 
ed the minds of the American missionaries in 
Bombay, to the desirableness of an institution, 
where persons of the character spoken of 
could obtain that education which they were 
seeking, without becoming disconnected with 
the missions of the American Board in West- 
ern India. 

11 It was thought that such a school could 
be conducted without necessarily withdrawing 
the missionary, or missionaries, from other 
labors of paramount importance. It was con- 
sidered, that a missionary, who felt the im- 
portance of preaching in its stricter sense, 
would not neglect this, because he was engaged 
in teaching Divine truth in such an institution 
several hours in the day. It was hoped that 
the disadvantageous tendency of large educa- 
tional establishments, in withdrawing those 

13 



146 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

engaged in them from other labors, might be 
avoided in this institution. Is it not possible 
to carry on a school of this kind without re- 
garding it as the mission field, but only as 
a portion of the field of the missionary ? So 
far as the present experiment has gone, it 
would seem to be possible. If it be distinctly 
understood by all connected or to be connected 
with the mission, that the mission polity is in 
the main something else than educational, that 
it is only the pressure of circumstances that 
has called this school into existence, and that 
its existence is permitted only as a subsidiary 
to the direct and oral preaching of the gospel, 
doubtless the tendency above alluded to might 
be counteracted. 

"The mission can hardly expect to have 
Christian catechists or preachers, natives, to 
labor efficiently in connection with it, unless it 
has the means of training them for this service. 
As things now are, persons of the needed 
ability will prefer to profess Christianity in 
connection with a mission that has these 
means. Young men convinced of the truth 
of Christianity and fully resolved to embrace 



HIGH SCHOOL IN BOMBAY. 147 

it, have been known to hesitate some time as 
to the mission with which they would unite 
themselves. Perhaps there is in this nothing 
stranger than in the fact that persons in Amer- 
ica, ready to make a profession of faith in 
Christ, sometimes deliberate as to the church 
in which they will seek admission. To be 
without the means of giving converts an En- 
glish education, would, in Bombay, be in 
many instances, to lose the converts. 

" It seems better that persons who are look- 
ing to the ministry of the gospel should pur- 
sue their studies, or a considerable part of 
their studies, in a school where they are daily 
and hourly brought into juxta-position with 
the same classes and the same characters that 
they .will be obliged to meet when they enter 
upon their labors. They will thus acquire 
much more facility in addressing men, more 
acquaintance with their actual condition, more 
readiness in meeting objections. 

" These arguments might be expanded. 
Others might be presented. To obtain in this 
country regular and attentive congregations 
willing to hear the gospel statedly, is felt to be 



148 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

almost as difficult as it is desirable; but in 
a school like that spoken of, such an audience 
is obtained. The object of the present report, 
however, is not to state the advantages of 
educational institutions generally as a means 
% of missionary operation ; but only to point out 
a peculiar pressure of circumstances existing 
in Bombay, requiring, on the part of the 
American mission there, an institution, some- 
thing like that of which a description has 
been given." 

The mission, however, notwithstanding these 
strong arguments, and without refuting them, 
report against the continuance of the school. 
As the ground of this decision, they say, that 
"past experience has seemed to show that 
such schools are not the most efficient instru- 
ments in forwarding the great work of mis- 
sions," that "the expense is an objection," 
and that " the influence of such schools on 
other mission-fields is undesirable." These 
are little else than mere assertions, needing 
ample proof ; but the Deputation, acting un- 
der instructions, no doubt enlightened the 
mission in regard to "the general policy and 



HIGH SCHOOL. IN MADRAS. 149 

plans of the board as unfavorable to such a 
school f and this must have greatly aided the 
decision. In their letter of instruction it was 
said, " At present it is the strong persuasion of 
the Prudential Committee, that no school can 
properly be sustained by the funds of the 
Board in which the vernacular language is not 
the grand medium of instruction ; and the De- 
putation will not feel at liberty to do any thing 
contrary to this persuasion, without what shall 
seem to them very conclusive reasons." 

After receiving their report of the mission, 
the deputation say to them : 

"Your general meeting has proved to our sat- 
isfaction, with what we have seen and learned 
elsewhere, that the American churches may 
have a prosperous system of missions in the 
Deccan, with the ordinary blessing of heaven, 
without such a school as was proposed at the 
Bombay presidency. 5 ' 

They allowed the High School at Madras, 
which had been established several years, and 
was supported by contributions from funds in 
India, to be continued. The language of the 
letter is— 

13* 



150 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

" The English language, and not the verna- 
cular, being the grand medium of instruction 
in the High School, there must be, according 
to our instructions, l very conclusive reasons' 
for this exception to what may be regarded as 
now a settled principle in our educational ap- 
pliances. These reasons we find in the actual 
and long tolerated existence of the school by 
the Prudential Committee in its present form ; 
in its relation to opinions, feelings and habits 
of our beloved and venerated fellow-laborer ; 
in the cheerful support given to it by the 
friends of niissions in this region ; and in the 
fact that something like it is apparently essen- 
tial to the present happy working of this mis- 
sion. And considering the hold which Mr. 
Winslow has on the respect of the youth in 
this school — heathen though most of them be 
— and his perfect knowledge of their language ; 
considering the extreme moral degradation of 
the lower castes in great cities, and the almost 
insuperable difficulty in obtaining direct access 
there to the upper castes for continued preach- 
ing to the same persons ; and considering also 
the development of mind in the lads generally 



HIGH SCHOOL IN" MADRAS. 151 

of the High School beyond that of most un- 
educated adult heathens ; it must be regarded 
as an important point gained, considering Mr. 
Winslow's preaching habits, for him to have 
them as a stated congregation. Experience 
in English High Schools has not indeed 
shown, so far as we have yet learned (unless 
it be in Madras), that such congregations of 
day-scholars are very promising for conver- 
sions. But where the preacher has such ad- 
vantages of personal respect, and of an idi- 
omatic use of the language, and of deep, 
fervent interest in the souls of the pupils, the 
congregation, in such a city as Madras, must 
be regarded with hope. It is now eight years 
since the school came on its present plan. Six 
of the pupils have been baptized by Mr. "Wins- 
low, and eight others, awakened in the school, 
have been baptized elsewhere. The principal 
cause of these leaving the school, was to se- 
cure board and a more effectual protection in 
the Scotch and English schools, and has a 
serious bearing on our future plank. One of 
the mission helpers was educated in the High 
School. Four of the monitors, or subordinate 



152 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

teachers, are Christians, one of whom was 
wholly educated in the school. The head 
teacher is of European descent, and a religious 
man ; and the instruction, excepting one hour 
a day of religious teaching by Mr. Winslow, 
is all done by him and fifteen monitors." 

On the general subject, also, Dr. Anderson, 
very candidly remarks : 

"It may be freely admitted, that the great 
cities of India have their peculiarities ; and 
the experience in the rural districts, and the 
reasoning concerning the missionary work 
there, must not be regarded as decisive when 
planned to carry the strongholds of idolatry 
in Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay. The differ- 
ence lies in the facilities of access to the higher 
classes. This access is not easy anywhere, 
but it is specially difficult in great cities. We 
have met with intelligent and excellent men, 
who despaired of reaching these classes in 
cities, except through the medium of English 
High Schools. "We are by no means satisfied 
that the experiment has yet been fully tried. 
Mere street preaching requires strength of 
nerve, quickness of mind, and command of 



ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOLS. 153 

the native language, which but few mission- 
aries can be expected to possess ; and this 
method of proclaiming the gospel is but an 
auxiliary to zayat and bungalow preaching. 
We are required to preach the gospel to all, 
and must attempt it ; but " to the poor the 
gospel is preached" in fact; that is, to the 
masses. The necessity and the value of En- 
glish High Schools in the city missions of 
India, is now in a progress of experiment on 
a large scale, by pious, able, devoted men in 
each of the great Presidential centres. In 
Madras, especially, we were delighted with the 
earnestness with which the gospel was pressed 
upon the youthful minds, and with the fruits 
of that earnestness already gathered. While 
not prepared to recommend such expensive 
schools to our own Board, we cordially bid 
them l God speed,' as a part of the appointed 
agency for India's conversion to God." 

Among missionaries in India, there is a very 
general, and all bufr universal opinion of the 
value of such schools, even as converting 
agencies ; especially for the middle and higher 
classes, who can scarce be approached in any 



154 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

other way. To be such, however, in any con- 
siderable degree, they require a large amount 
of efficient missionary superintendence, and to 
be made in some sense, asj^lums for the con- 
verts, who may be obliged to flee to the mis- 
sionary for protection when persecuted, or 
even cast off by their relatives. This renders 
them less eligible, on a large scale for Ameri- 
can than British missionaries, and where much 
encouragement is given to converts by large 
salaries to such as are employed, and full sup- 
port to others, there is danger, without great 
watchfulness, of awakening a mercenary spirit, 
by enabling the natives to make " gain of 
godliness," and of drawing hypocrites into the 
church, notwithstanding the trials through 
which most of them must pass. There is also 
danger of separating them too much from 
their own people, and thus lessening their use- 
fulness as missionary assistants. 

Still, with proper guards, as a method which 
seems opened by Providence for access to the 
more respectable classes, and for bringing the 
mind of the missionary in contact with the 
minds and hearts of those otherwise nearly in- 



ENGLISH FOE HINDUS. 155 

accessible, it is the decided opinion of the 
writer that for making known the gospel, and 
as an important means of raising up native as- 
sistants, and an efficient native ministry, High 
Schools for English and European science, 
with the vernaculars, are worthy the cordial 
and generous support of American Christians. 
English will be studied, whether taught by 
missionaries in connection with Christianity, 
or otherwise. It will be pursued. Its influx 
is as irresistible as that of the tides of the 
ocean. For good or evil it is overlaying the 
leading minds of the country. If the govern- 
ment schools are left without the Scriptures, 
and institutions in which the Bible is thorough- 
ly taught — whether receiving the grants in aid 
from government, or proceeding without them 
— are not largely established, and energetically 
conducted, the leading classes of the Hindus, 
learning,, in the light of true science, to despise 
the senseless idols of their own creed, and not 
being taught a better, will become extensively 
infidel; and more irreclaimable, and unap- 
proachable, and immoral than the followers of 
the brahmanic system. These have at least some 



156 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

sense of religion, and fear of superior powers, 
but as infidels they will have neither. To 
prevent their becoming such, we must, if pos- 
sible, give them the Bible with their superior 
education. 

It is also certain that while the mass of the 
people are to be taught Christianity in their 
own tongue, and it is absurd to fancy that 
English is to supplant the vernaculars, except 
in case of some rude and unformed dialect, yet 
it will so far prevail that those ignorant of it, 
will be thought unlearned, and unfit to be 
leaders in the native church, or to contend 
with their infidel or idolatrous countrymen 
who have acquired this knowledge. Besides, 
while it may be granted that different grades 
of laborers are needed, and that comparatively 
unlearned, but pious and devoted teachers may 
be principally relied upon, in rural districts, 
yet even they will need the benefit of some 
amoijg them, capable of strengthening their 
faith when attacked; and a higher class of 
ministers will be required in more cultivated 
societies. It may be very well in the new set- 
tlements of North America, where the preachers 



ENGLISH FOE NATIVE MINISTERS. 157 

of the gospel must be liardy and live on little, 
and where great numbers are wanted, for the 
people to content themselves with plain but 
good men of moderate acquirements for min- 
isters ; but the rule in general is, that minis- 
ters of the gospel should be men of ] earning. 
Their hearers may not, perhaps, understand 
Latin, or Greek, or Hebrew, and may know 
little of science, but authorized, religious 
teachers are required, very properly, to have 
some knowledge of these, for the enlargement 
of their own minds, that they may be the safer 
guides, even in religion, in which they use 
their own plain vernacular, " avoiding vain 
and profane babblings and oppositions of 
science falsely so called." 

It is equally necessary among the Hindus, 
that some, at least, should be learned, and for 
this higher class of ministers, and also for 
physicians, and surgeons, and schoolmasters, 
qualified properly to teach geography, astro- 
nomy, or even arithmetic, in the best manner, 
and for the proper elevation of the native 
Christian community, a knowledge of English, 
sufficient to use books in this language, is very 
14 



158 HINTS ON INDIAN" MISSIONS. 

desirable. It is also necessary for the creation 
of a Christian literature, and for Christianizing 
the vernacular languages. A process of this 
kind was wonderfully employed by God for 
moulding a dialect of the Greek language, by the 
Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, 
and by making it, to a great extent, the lan- 
guage of his own people, so as to make it a pro- 
per vehicle for the New Testament revelation. 
The objection that those who attend the 
high schools are lost for the native work — ■ 
though not lost to the community — because 
they can command higher wages than the 
natives can give, is more specious than real, 
except in liniited localities. It will be re- 
moved when large numbers are qualified for 
government and other service. Before that, 
something may be done by accustoming the 
youths of the school to frugal habits, and not 
raising them out of their proper sphere. Teach- 
ing the native Christians so to manage their 
affairs that they may be better able to support 
their native teachers than they now are, will 
also be a remedy. The country is abundantly 
productive, and with those improvements which 



ENGLISH FOR NATIVE MINISTERS. 159 

government seems disposed to make in its poli- 
tical state, there is no reason why native 
Christian communities should not be so far 
elevated as to support teachers, physicians, 
and ministers, who have even studied English ; 
without which knowledge, they could not in a 
rising and improving commuuity be in the 
best manner qualified for their work. 

The London Missionary Society, for many 
years, confined their efforts, in Southern India, 
to preaching and teaching in the vernaculars, 
and established a vernacular seminary at 
Bangalore, which still continues, for training 
native assistants from different stations, and 
to fit for the ministry such as might be found 
suitable. The failure, however, of securing in 
this way a well-qualified native ministry, has 
led them lately to form an English High 
School at Madras, which now contains more 
than four hundred youths. 

Concerning this, one of their oldest and 
most efficient missionaries, absent from Madras 
at the time, wrote as follows : " I was very glad 
to observe you speaking so encouragingly of 
our institution. I believe it to be a most 



160 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

valuable and needful auxiliary to our work in 
such a country as Madras, and trust our Direc- 
tors will be able always to give us two men 
for it. I would not ask for more. I like Dr. 

S 's ideas and plan for his own sphere. It 

is well that we should hear both sides, and 
work both methods ; both are most valuable 
in their proper place. God has blessed both, 
and will, I believe, continue to do so. All we 
want is to work in the spirit of Abraham's 
words to Lot, * If thou wilt go to the right 
hand, I will go to the left.' There is room 
enough for both. Alas ! how wide and how 
unoccupied ; and we need not jostle one an- 
other, nor contend with one another. The 
fruits of the two methods in coming years will 
be the best test of their relative worth, wisely 
estimated." 

This is the language of one who is himself 
engaged only in the vernacular work, and is 
the best vernacular preacher of his society, in 
Madras. 

If the number of converts in these high 
schools be not large, they are very important 
in their influences as affecting the higher 



VERNACULAR FREE SCHOOLS. 161 

classes of society. Though all souls are equal 
in the sight of Grod, the conversion of an 
educated brahman has an effect upon others, 
which that of a low caste, or no-caste, man has 
not. It shakes the Hindu system more vio- 
lently. The value of converts, therefore, is to 
be reckoned by their quality as well as num- 
ber, and those from the high schools, prepared 
by education, position in life, and persecution 
— which they must generally pass through — 
for extended usefulness have a higher relative 
value than obscure converts. 

Vernacular Free Schools. — These, in the earlier 
periods of Indian missions, were largely estab- 
lished, for heathen, Mohammedan, and Jewish 
children, as a means of access to the parents ; 
as a method of preparing the way for the 
operations of the press, by teaching the pupils 
to read the printed character; as furnishing 
places for the preaching of the gospel ; and as aid- 
ing to gather audiences. They were considered 
also as direct converting agencies to operate 
upon the teachers, and children, and, through 
the children upon, the parents. In new mis- 
sions, or those in new localities, these reasons, 
14* 



162 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

except so far as modified by a more general 
knowledge than first existed of the object of 
the missionaries, and the nature of the religion 
they have come to teach, and acquaintance 
with the printed character, in consequence of 
the more extended circulation of books, from 
native as well as foreign presses, still exist ; 
and many schools are still maintained. They 
were at first of necessity, for want of other 
teachers, conducted by unevangelized masters, 
under Christian superintendence, and using 
Christian books. The greater part of the pupils 
were heathen children, and such is still the case 
where they are continued on any large scale. 

Objections have been made to the instruc- 
tion of heathen children — which of course 
apply to all except those of at least nominally 
Christian parents — but it is difficult to see how 
these can lie, while the young are confessedly 
everywhere, the most hopeful subjects of in- 
struction ; and the command is, " Go and teach 
all nations," and " preach the gospel to every 
creature;" and while it is the practice in all 
Christian countries, not only to allow, but 
earnestly to invite the children of Eomanists, 



VERNACULAR FREE SCHOOLS. 163 

Jews, and infidels to the Sabbath and other 
Christian schools. 

On this point the Bombay missionaries well 
say, in their report to the Deputation : 

"Persons who place themselves under Chris- 
tian instruction should have opportunities for 
learning the truth, and for having their chil- 
dren instructed, especially in the Bible. When 
schools are established for such persons, there 
seems to be no good reason why children of 
other persons may not attend — they conform- 
ing to all the rules of such Christian school, 
and studying with the other boys. The only 
limit would be that of the strength and time 
of the teacher. It would seem to be an im- 
portant means of communicating truth to the 
minds of the parents, and leading them to yield 
to the claims of the gospel. 

" The objection to allowing such children 
to attend the schools is, that we provide the 
schools for persons who place themselves under 
our instruction, and if we admit others, the 
inducement to become connected with us is so 
far forth weakened. If we admit the children 
of heathen and Christian parents alike, then 



164 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

there is no inducement for the heathen to for- 
sake his gods, in the fact that his children will 
be instructed in the Christian school. On this 
we would simply remark, that we wish our 
converts to come to us without the inducement 
of any worldly motive, and to restrict our 
schools to the children of persons formally 
placing themselves under our instruction, 
might prove quite a strong worldly motive. 
"We desire to bring as much spiritual influence 
to bear upon the heathen as possible. l Faith 
cometh by hearing,' and we cherish the hope 
that all such schools will prove a means of 
leading men to Christ." 

These remarks are sound. The objection 
to confining the benefit of the schools to the 
children of those who join a congregation, and 
are thus, though not baptized, in some sense, 
nominal Christians, has much weight among a 
people like the Hindus. It may operate as a 
premium on hypocrisy, inducing some, for the 
benefit of the schools, to profess what they do 
not feel. 

More specious, perhaps more weighty ob- 
jections are made to the employment of un- 



VERNACULAR FREE SCHOOLS. 165 

evangelized teachers. But it must be borne 
in mind that they have been and are employed 
for want of others, or because others could not 
collect the class of pupils which it was wished 
to have. It should also be remembered that 
they are not depended on, for instructing in 
religion, any further than the mere repetition 
of lessons is concerned ; and that the schools 
are all under Christian superintendence, and 
the pupils when they are rightly managed, are 
brought frequently where they hear the gospel 
preached ; also that a missionary is often 
obliged to be content with what he can do, 
rather than what he would. 

These schools may not have done all the 
good that was expected of them. By some 
they are accounted a failure. If it be so, then 
are all other forms of operation more nearly a 
failure than their advocates would be willing 
to admit, or than they ought to admit. What 
they have done, even when most ill-managed, 
to prepare the way for the gospel, no man 
probably is qualified to say. That they have 
done harm, no one will pretend. In them have 
thousands upon thousands been taught to read, 



166 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

and been made acquainted with, the Scriptures, 
and the way of salvation. By means of them 
the missionary has had favorable access to the 
parents as well as the children, and thousands 
of females, even, who otherwise would have 
remained in utter ignorance, have been in- 
structed in them. The minds of multitudes 
of the rising generation, male and female, have 
received an impulse in the right direction. 
Prejudice has been removed, and hundreds of 
teachers and pupils have been converted to 
God, and all this, as to each particular school, 
at very trifling expense, less than one dollar a 
year for every child instructed. Would that 
dollar have been better laid out for children at 
home, in sweetmeats, or playthings, or finery ? 
"I trow not." But, it may be said, it might 
do more good in some other form of mission- 
ary work. Possibly, if it could be obtained 
for that ; but many children and others give 
for schools what they would not give for other 
objects. But let us look at some of the pros 
and cons on the subject in the printed docu- 
ments of missionary experience. 



BOMBAY FE.EE SCHOOLS. 167 

The Bombay missionaries report to the De- 
putation as follows : 

" We think a moderate estimate would show 
that at least ten thousand pupils have been 
connected with these schools. 

" We cannot point to a single case of con- 
version from among all this number. A few 
instances of conversion have occurred among 
the suDerintendents and teachers of these 
schools, and these men are among our most 
valuable helpers at the present time. We oc- 
casionally meet with those who were formerly 
pupils in these schools, while preaching in the 
villages. Often such persons are interested 
and attentive hearers, and often they are the 
abusers of us and our work. The result seems 
to show that these schools have failed of ac- 
complishing, except to a very slight extent, 
what was hoped from their establishment, in 
the way of influencing the people, and gain- 
ing them over to the truth. From this result 
follows, as a general rule, the inexpediency 
of employing heathen teachers in common 
schools. The main ground upon which such 
schools are urged at present is, that they are a 



168 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

means of communicating with the people, of 
forming some kind of connection with them, 
of getting a congregation. It is probable, 
however, that in most cases, the missionary 
can secure a hearing for his message without 
the aid of such schools. 

11 The objections which are felt to the em- 
ployment of heathens* as teachers of common 
schools, would not lie against the employment 
of Christians. We have much to hope from 
such efforts, where a decided Christian influ- 
ence is exerted upon the children, and upon 
all connected with them. The experiment is 
but a recent one in any of our stations." 

It may be noticed that while they state that 
they cannot point to a single instance of con- 
version among the children, " a few instances 
have occurred among the superintendents and 
teachers." Surely, then, they were not alto- 
gether a failure ; and how many of the chil- 
dren, who being most of them very young, 
could hardly be expected to become Chris- 
tians, while in the schools, have become, in 
subsequent life, or may yet be converts ; or 
have been taken to heaven, while young, by 



CEYLON VERNACULAR SCHOOLS, 169 

the Good Shepherd, unknown to the mission- 
aries ! The writer has seen some little ones, 
never baptized, whom he hopes to meet in a 
better world. 

The missionaries of the Board in Ceylon, 



" In regard to the agency of these schools, 
in turning the people from sin unto holiness, 
the following facts may be stated. Yery 
many of the persons educated in our seminary 
both at Batticotta and Oodooville, who subse- 
quently became members of the church, re- 
ceived their first religious impressions while 
belonging to these schools. It appears, also, 
from the records of the mission, that sixty-two 
persons who have joined our churches, were 
formerly educated more or less in these schools. 
It should, however, be distinctly stated, that, 
none of these were educated in our seminary, 
neither were they received to the church while 
pupils in the schools. As the children in 
these schools usually leave them at an early 
age, it is hardly to be expected that the num- 
ber of conversions in them will be very large. 
Still there have been some. The brethren of 
15 



170 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the mission distinctly recollect about thirty 
cases. Of these a few died before making a 
public profession of religion. Five of this 
number are now candidates for church-mem- 
bership ; and seven of them did not join the 
church till they became monitors in the 
schools, though they were converted, as we 
trust, at an earlier age. We cherish the hope 
that the day of judgment will reveal the fact, 
that a considerable number of these children, 
who have been cut off by various diseases, 
especially by cholera, have 7 in their dying 
hour, trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. 

" With respect to our heathen school-mas- 
ters, eighty of them have become members of 
our churches; twenty-five of this number 
having been dismissed from service in the 
mission, have shown, by their subsequent 
conduct, that they were unworthy members. 

" Several instances have occurred in which 
both men and women have been induced to 
attend the services of the sanctuary, through 
the influence of their children, and have 
thereby found the Saviour." 

Here then are fifty -five schoolmasters, besides 



VERNACULAR FREE SCHOOLS. 171 

the apostates, and thirty pupils, while in the 
schools, or after leaving them, without the ad- 
vantages of the seminary, known as hopefully 
converted ; and sixty-two who had been pu- 
pils, and were afterwards received to the 
church ; of whom many received their first 
impressions in the schools. How many more 
have been or will be converted, we know not, 
and what good the converts have done, or will 
do, we know not ; nor can we estimate the in- 
direct benefits of these schools. It is therefore 
submitted that funds for them have been well 
employed 

The Deputation, in their reply to the Bom- 
bay mission, say : 

" Schools, regarded as converting instru- 
mentalities, have almost wholly disappointed 
us ; regarded as preparatory means, they have 
not answered expectation ; and as auxiliaries, 
they have been expensive. Yet where there 
are competent Christian teachers, and funds to 
spare for the purpose, it is well to have schools 
in heathen villages. In general, however, and 
more as missions succeed, the funds to appro- 
priate for such purposes will little more than 



172 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

suffice for aiding the native Christians in edu- 
cating their own children, and for educating 
catechists and preachers." 

Also to the Madura mission : 

"We are happy to find none of the old 
schools of heathen children taught by heathen 
masters, remaining in the mission. The large 
churches erected years ago at Madura, Dindi- 
gol, Tirupuyanum, and Sivagunga — tog large, 
except, perhaps, that at Madura, for present ne- 
cessities, but once filled every Sabbath by the 
pupils of these congregated schools — are monu- 
ments of the power of that system to create 
congregations for the time being, and of the 
folly of trusting to such schools for stated con- 
gregations after the pay of the teachers is with- 
drawn, or for converts, or for any very tangi- 
ble results. Yet the experience is doubtless 
worth what it cost. Were it not for that ex- 
perience, such schools would, perhaps, even, 
now, be thought a deserving branch of the 
missionary work. Nor should we forget that, 
in the early stages of modern missions, when 
the sowing of the good seed of the word had 
not begun to yield its harvests of converts, 



VERNACULAR FREE SCHOOLS. 173 

such, schools exerted an important influence at 
home. The teaching of so many thousands 
of heathen youth to read in the Scriptures, and 
to repeat the leading facts in the gospel his- 
tory, was itself a result ; it was a success, and 
did much to sustain and extend the missionary 
spirit at the time in our churches. And 
though more excellent ways of employing our 
funds* are now pursued, it may be presumed 
that those schools will hereafter appear to have 
been a labor by no means lost upon the native 
mind and heart of India." 

To the Ceylon mission they say : 
" The place which education should hold in 
the missionary work, is no longer a matter for 
theoretical speculations. It is to be deter- 
mined in the light of a long, expensive and 
very ample experience. Experience affords 
little encouragement to employ them among 
the heathen as a converting instrumentality, 
or as a means of gaining stated congregations 
for the preacher, or in any form as a prepara- 
tory means for the publication of the gospel. 
Their proper sphere is among the children of 
converts and stated hearers, in helping to 
15* 



174 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

"build up a Christian community, and for the 
education of the native helpers of the mission, 
and pastors for the native churches ; and the 
medium of instruction, in all cases, should be 
the vernacular language. Such, we believe, 
to be the teaching of experience. Such, at 
least, is that teaching within the range of our 
own observation." 

It will be seen that the Deputation, in this 
latter extract, speak with much decision on 
the whole subject. The question is to be 
" determined in the light of a long, expensive, 
and very ample experience," and we have the 
result. They afford " little encouragement," as 
a "converting instrumentality," as "a means 
of gaining stated congregations ;" or "in any 
form as a preparatory means for the publica- 
tion of the gospel." How far they may be 
considered a " converting instrumentality," 
some of the above facts, especial]y those in the 
Ceylon report, will tend to show. The writer 
does not view them as affording " little en- 
couragement" in any well-conducted schools. 
As to gaining " stated congregations," remarks 
have already been made to show that they 



BOARDING SCHOOLS. 175 

have formed encouraging audiences; and though, 
not usually worked with a view to " stated 
congregations," they have prepared the way 
even for these. Whether they have been "in 
any form a preparatory means for the publica- 
tion of the gospel," when they have them- 
selves published it in various forms, as ap- 
pears above, need hardly be inquired. 

Boarding schools. — These have been more 
largely established in Ceylon than in any other 
American mission in the east. Concerning 
that at Oodooville for females, the mission re- 
port to the Deputation, among other things, 
says: 

" The age at which pupils have been admit- 
ted has varied from six to ten years. They 
have been taken from various castes. There 
have been none, however, from the lowest 
caste, and none from among the brahmans. 
Very few have been obtained from the more 
wealthy families of the province. The in- 
struction has been given principally by the 
missionary ladies at the station, and three 
native teachers. The whole number who have 
been connected with the school, is two hun- 



176 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

dred and twenty-two, exclusive of the present 
pupils ; nineteen of them died while members 
of the school. 

u Of the whole number, one hundred and 
seventy -five became members of the Christian 
church, ten of whom ultimately relapsed into 
heathenism, and two became Romanists. * * * 

u The influence of this boarding-school, we 
need hardly say, has been most excellent and 
far-reaching. The many Christian families 
scattered over the province, the island, and 
the continent, exerting a silent, but important 
influence, testify to its usefulness. Many 
tokens of (rod's special blessing have been 
granted, in the frequent revivals which have 
been enjoyed, and in the uniform prosperity 
which has attended the institution. There is 
no part of our missionary work which we 
have regarded with more pleasure and hope 
than this school, and there are no results of 
our labors here, which seem to us to be tell- 
ing with more power, at the present moment, 
upon the evangelization of the land, than 
those connected with this department of our 
mission." 



BATTICOTTA SEMINARY. 177 

Concerning the Batticotta Seminary for 
native lads, they in like manner say : 

"The Batticotta Seminary was established 
in the year 1823. Previous to that time, 
boarding-schools for boys had been sustained 
at most of the mission stations, and the semi- 
nary was composed of the most advanced and 
promising boys in those schools. 

11 The main design of the mission in establish- 
ing this institution, was to raise up efficient 
laborers to aid in the work of evangelizing 
this people. Subsequently it was enlarged, 
with the hope that it might furnish suitable 
men to aid in extending missionary operations 
on the neighboring continent. By a reference 
to some of the early reports, it appears that 
the mission had in view also the general ele- 
vation of the people and the raising of the 
standard of education in the country. There 
are also some expressions which indicate that, 
the fitting of men to act as efficient officers of 
government was among the minor considera- 
tions which influenced the mission to carry 
on and enlarge their operations in this depart- 
ment. 



178 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

"For the carrying out of this design, it has 
been a permanent object from the first to give 
the pupils a thorough knowledge of the En- 
glish language, and thus furnish them a key 
to western science and literature, and relieve 
them from the bondage of Hindu superstitions 
founded on false science. * ^ * 

" The present state of the Institution, if we 
look at it in view of some of the objects for 
which it was founded, is very encouraging. 
There is a corps of able and well-qualified 
native teachers, fitted to give instruction in all 
important branches, and the attainments of 
those under their charge are such as, in many 
cases, to do honor both to the teachers and 
pupils. It has attained a commanding influ- 
ence in the community, as a literal and scien- 
tific institution, and is a stepping-stone by 
which many have been able, at a cheap rate, 
to rise to posts of influence and emolument. 
The mission, through the influence of the 
seminary, has had the control of education in 
the province for many } T ears. Some have re- 
garded this as a reason why the institution 
should be sustained, lest the power of educat- 



BATTICOTTA SEMINARY. 179 

ing this people should fall into the hands of 
the heathen or others opposed to the pure 
principles of the gospel. 

"Were it our object to educate the com- 
munity, we should regard our position in this 
respect as very encouraging. Viewed as a 
missionary seminary, its present state is not 
so encouraging. The whole number of stu- 
dents is ninety-six ; of these eleven only are 
members of the Christian church. Many of 
the older pupils are of that class who are look- 
ing mainly to government for employment, 
and seem determined to have nothing to do 
with Christianity. There is, however, a re- 
deeming feature in the fact that many in the 
lower classes are children of church members, 
who will, we trust, be found on the right side, 
if not exposed to too great temptations by 
being thrown in contact with evil influences. 
In the last class of thirty, admitted in 1854, 
fifteen were from Christian families. In the 
class which graduated in September, 1854, 
there were six church members ; and of the 
ninety-six, above named, thirty were admitted 
in October, 1854. 



180 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

The whole number who have sustained membership is. 670 
The whole number of students now living, who have 

been educated, is 454 

Of these there are in mission service 112 

Of whom there are employed by the American Ceylon 

Mission 81 

The number in service of Government in Ceylon and 

India 158 

The number in different kinds of business in Ceylon and 

on the Continent Ill 

Those whose employment is unknown, or who are not 

known to be employed in any useful business .... *T3 

The whole number of church members 352 

Number excommunicated 92 

Whole number who have died ; (8 of whom after ex- 
communication, 12 

Present number connected with Protestant churches. . . 196 
The number now connected with the American mission 

churches 185 

"The institution has raised up a class of 
native assistants who have greatly aided the 
mission in carrying on their work, and who 
will, we trust, be of still greater service as 
preachers and pastors in different parts of the 
field. Many of them are the fruits of the 
revivals to which allusion has been made, and 
are indeed the most promising fruit of the in- 
stitution. 



BATTICOTTA SEMINARY. 181 

11 There are also some among those who are 
not connected with us, but are engaged in 
government and other service, who, we hope, 
are Christians, and honor their professions by 
an humble and consistent life. 

"Aside from the above results, the seminary 
has exerted an influence in the land which 
cannot be mistaken, in waking up the native 
mind, in diffusing useful knowledge, and creat- 
ing a power, which, if directed into the right 
channel, will do much for the elevation of this 
people. There is a class in the community 
who have, in a measure, been freed from the 
bondage of superstition, whose views have 
been liberalized by science, and who may do 
much for the improvement of their country- 
men. Though the seminary has failed in some 
respects, to accomplish all its friends hoped 
for, it has done a great work in its day, which 
will yet, by the blessing of Grod, turn to good 
account in the establishment of the kingdom 
of Christ in Ceylon." 

In both the above institutions, material mo- 
difications were made, on the visit of the 
Deputation ; reducing the number of pupils, 
16 



182 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

and excluding English as 'a principal study. 
This was virtually to destroy the Batticotta 
Seminary, as it removed its main attraction, 
and it almost necessarily led to its suspension. 
On the subject of boarding-schools, the Depu- 
tation said to the Bombay Mission : 

" Our experience in boarding schools in our 
somewhat extended system of missions, has 
not been altogether satisfactory. The experi- 
ence has been chiefly on what we have seen 
denominated in India the hot-house system ; 
where the youth were isolated from their 
heathen friends and idolatrous festivals, and 
lived altogether under the missionary's eye. 
"Where the youth are taken early and the isola- 
tion is complete, the proportion of hopeful 
conversions is considerable ; but we have 
found these results, with some exceptions, less 
practical, less available for entire, self-denying 
service than we had expected." 

The opinion of these able men, after much 
opportunity for observing the working of 
boarding-schools, must have great weight. 
There are undoubtedly many evils incidental 
to the system, but it does not follow that it is 



SEMINARY IN MADURA. 183 

therefore to be abandoned ; nor did the Depu- 
tation come to that conclusion. Kightly con- 
ducted, with proper regard to the ends to be 
sought, and a suitable adaptation of means to 
those ends, much good may be effected by 
these schools. One of the ends should be the 
raising up of well qualified native agents, and 
this is a most important object. It was for this 
purpose that the seminary at Madura, in which 
the pupils are all boarded, was established. 
Concerning this, the mission say : 

"As the mission had no Christian com- 
munity from which to draw a supply of young 
men, the majority of the first students were 
from heathen families. Many of them also 
were from Tanjore and other neighboring dis- 
tricts. Of the thirty-four collected at the time, 
twenty-one were heathen and Eomanists and 
fifty of the whole number were from other 
districts. The classes also which entered in 
1844, 1845, 1846, and 1847, were composed 
of similar materials. Notwithstanding these 
disadvantages, the seminary was greatly bless- 
ed. Very many of the students were con- 
verted, and some of the first graduates are our 



184 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

most efficient helpers at this time. The year 
1847 formed an era in the history of this in- 
stitution. The mission took action on the sub- 
ject of caste in July, having direct reference 
to the catechists and church members j and it 
was the occasion of some excitement in the 
seminary from the fact, that many of the 
catechists and others affected by the caste 
movement, had sons in the institution at the 
time. The object of the seminary being to 
raise up helpers for the mission, it seemed 
to be inconsistent to admit, or even to 
retain those in the institution, who, by observ- 
ing the rules of caste, would be unqualified 
to enter into the service of the mission as 
catechists, after having completed their course 
of study. In consequence of the action of 
the mission on this subject in October 1847, 
the seminary was nearly disbanded, only one 
of the teachers and nine of the students hav- 
ing complied with the requisition of the mis- 
sion. Some of the scholars and one of the 
teachers afterwards returned. 

" A few months later, a class of twelve, 
mostly from our own people, and of low caste, 



SEMINARY IN MADURA. 185 

were received. Since that time the number 
of students from abroad has constantly dimin- 
ished. In 1854. a class of fifteen were re- 
ceived, not one of whom was from without the 
District. * * * 

" The present teachers are four in number, 
all of whom are graduates of the seminary. 
The first teacher, Albert Barnes, was a mem- 
ber of the first graduating class, and is a most 
worthy man. The second and third teachers 
are also very promising both in respect to edu- 
cation and piety. The fourth teacher is young, 
having graduated last year. He had a good 
reputation in his class. * * * 

" There are in the seminary at present four 
classes. In the first class seven students, in 
the second nine, in the third twelve, and in 
the fourth fifteen ; in all forty -three persons. 
Of these thirty-six are members of the church, 
and three are candidates for admission. Near- 
ly all are from our own field and our own 
people." 

There can be no doubt of the usefulness of 
such an institution ; and when the immense im- 
portance of female education among the Hin- 
16* 



186 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

dus is considered, all must agree that well 
conducted boarding-schools for girls, where 
the circumstances of a mission allow, should 
be encouraged. The education of one girl 
may be considered equal to that of three boys 
in its prospective influence. 

The boarding-schools in many places are 
what in America would be called, perhaps, 
manual-labor-schools — that is, the pupils, 
whether males or females, work a part of 
each day for their support. In fact, in all the 
schools for girls, sewing, cutting, crotchet- 
work, lace-making, etc., with taking their 
turn in cooking, are more or less practiced. 
The object is, as much as possible — in connec- 
tion with giving them proper employment and 
exercise, and it may be also lessening the ex- 
pense of their support — to fit them for after 
duties in life. The employment should there- 
fore be as far as possible such as they may 
subsequently follow, and find useful and prof- 
itable. In the cities the girls received, are 
generally of low caste, others not being read- 
ily obtained ; they have, therefore, except such 
as may perhaps marry a catechist, or school- 



INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. 187 

master, or some other assistant in the mission, 
to look forward to employment as ayahs, or fam- 
ily servants. For such, a knowledge of English 
is desirable ; for others, it is less important. 

Industrial schools of a more extended cha- 
racter, and especially for boys, are also estab- 
lished in some places, with a good measure of 
success. The Germans have done most in this 
department. They have taught various handi- 
crafts and trades, as well as the cultivation of 
the soil. In a school of a German missionary 
at Salem, under the London Missionary So- 
ciety, the profits of the work in the business 
of blacksmiths, carpenters, etc., have at times 
gone far to support the establishment. It con- 
tains some scores of youths, who, in addition 
to their Christian education, obtain a trade, 
which will enable them to support themselves 
in after life. The object in these industrial 
schools is not, as among savages, civilization ; 
but in the first place, conversion, by bringing 
the members of them under efficient Christian 
instruction ; and secondly, giving the means of 
self-support to the converts, which, among a 
people so poor and dependent, is very important. 



188 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

One of the great problems to be solved, is, 
what can be done for the native converts, to 
ensure them the means of obtaining an honest 
livelihood. It may be thought this should be 
left to themselves, and as patient endur- 
ance is part of the duty of all Christians, 
and as it is through much tribulation that 
most enter the kingdom, it cannot be neces- 
sary for missionaries to smooth the path of 
the converts, so as to save them from suffering 
for want of support. But common charity, 
not to say the progress of Christianity, re- 
quires them to do what they can in this re- 
spect, without encouraging a mercenarj^ spirit, 
or leading any to follow Christ for the loaves 
and fishes. 

Orphan schools are also established, in some 
places, which are usually, in part, self-support- 
ing by means of some kind of labor. These 
may be thought too expensive for missionary 
societies, whose object is to save the soul, 
rather than feed the body, but the two are 
often united, and as in the case of Khoud 
children, rescued from the Meriah sacrifice, the 
supporting and teaching of the children is often 



ORPHAN SCHOOLS. 189 

the only means of reaching the tribes from 
which they come. If, in a famine, hundreds 
of brahman children could be gathered into an 
orphan school and taught, it would probably 
be as good a use of mission-funds for that class 
as could be made; because adult brahmans 
are so difficult of proper access. The Roman 
Catholics, who know well how to adopt their 
means to their ends, have often succeeded in 
China and other places, by means of such 
schools, in obtaining an influence which they 
could get in no other way. Where free access 
can be had to all classes to preach the gospel, 
as in most parts of India, they are unnecessary 
as a part of the mission- work ; and may be left 
to private charity. 

The place which education should have in 
missionary operations in India, must be deter- 
mined by circumstances, and not by any uni- 
versal rules applicable to one particular state 
of society. There is in India almost every 
grade, from barbarism to a refined, though 
sickly, civilization. It does not follow because 
the apostles did not establish schools among 
the refined Greeks and intellectual Romans, 



190 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

who were, in part, prepared to receive their 
message by some previous acquaintance with 
the Jewish Scriptures, that they are not need- 
ful for access to the ignorant, prejudiced, 
priest-ridden, and caste-enslaved Hindus. The 
apostles went with divine credentials, in the 
power of working miracles, speaking various 
tongues, and imparting spiritual gifts ; they 
had no schools, yet Paul disputed in the school 
of one Tyrannus, daily, for the space of two 
years. Schools are now an important aid in 
their proper place ; and until the energies of a 
mission are sufficiently taxed for the education 
of Christian children, they may be opened for 
those of the unevangelized, and so give profit- 
able employment to its female members, who 
otherwise might have little to do, and to the 
missionaries themselves, when not able to be 
abroad, to preach. 

III. The Pbess.— This is a mighty engine 
for good or evil, everywhere, in these modern 
days ; and its influence should not be lost 
sight of, or undervalued by missionaries. In 
a place like India, a Christian press is of in- 
calculable importance. Whatever is done di- 



THE PEESS. 191 

rectly by the foreign missionary in preaching 
the gospel himself, or by training others to 
preach it, he can in no way reach by the liv- 
ing voice, effectually, the millions scattered 
over this widely- extended land. Truth on the 
printed page can go where he cannot find en- 
trance, as into the temple and into the women's 
apartments of the house. It can be carried 
forth, as winged seeds are carried by the wind ; 
in various ways, and scattered broad-cast. Nor 
is it in vain ; seed thus scattered sometimes falls 
in a fruitful place. 

Nor is it merely because the living voice 
cannot be lifted up everywhere that truth in 
the printed form is needed. The press is re- 
quired, also, for permanency of effect ; to reit- 
erate, again and again, what the preacher may 
have stated ; to bring the truth home to the 
conscience in places of retirement ; to refresh 
the memory, morning and night, and at the 
midnight hour ; to be at all times and in all 
places an efficient, though silent preacher ; not 
tiring with the message, not failing under a 
hot sun, nor sinking from disease, as may the 
living agent. 



192 HINTS OK INDIAN MISSIONS. 

It is the peculiarity of Protestants in dis- 
tinction from the Komanists, that they give 
the Scriptures to the common people in their 
own tongue. It will not be contended that 
any mission can prosper if this be not done, or 
if the converts are not properly instructed in 
all the main truths of Christianity ; but how 
shall this be done without the help of the 
press ? What would the professed followers 
of Christ, in a Christian land, be without its 
aid ? With all the help they have from each 
other, and notwithstanding the beneficial influ- 
ence of Christian society, how barren would 
the minds and hearts of most persons be, if 
they had no help from books, or tracts, or 
newspapers ; not to say Bibles ? In some way 
a Christian press must be brought to bear 
upon the Hindus, converted, or unconverted, 
if we would not meet the brahmans at disad- 
vantage ; for they are using the press largely 
to support their falling system. 

It will not do to refer us to the apostles, as 
not having had schools, or presses, or other 
11 machinery,' 7 as it is sometimes called, in their 
missions. If we would strictly imitate the 



MACHINERY OF MISSIONS. 193 

apostles, we must go forth, as they did, with- 
out pecuniary support from others, and labor, 
working with our hands, as Paul did. We 
must repudiate the machinery of a missionary 
society, and committees, and secretaries, and 
treasurers ; and, if we would be thorough, roll 
back the tide of civilization, and go, as Paul 
did, on foot by land, and on sea in a ves- 
sel without compass or chart or chronometer, 
and have nothing to do, in our locomotion, or 
transmission of intelligence, with rail-roads, or 
steamers, and electric telegraphs. It is easy to 
remind us that the work of missions is a work 
of faith, and that God is able to remove all ob- 
stacles. So it is at home also ; yet when He 
gives his church facilities based on this work 
of faith, He requires them to use these facilities. 
He never interposes to do what men can do. 
He might remove all obstacles and convert the 
heathen without the aid of his church, but He 
gives his people the privilege of being co- 
workers with him, and as such to use all the 
means He has put in their power. We are all 
to put our " shoulders to the wheel;" yea, to 
every wheel, and then cry to him for a "living 
17 



194 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

spirit in the wheels." It is not the use of 
" machinery" in missions that is to be blamed, 
but dependence upon it ; as would be the use 
of medicine in sickness, if we did not with 
that, trust in God, and pray for his blessing. 

Formation of Congregations and Churches, and 
Ordaining Native Pastors. — The forming of 
Christian congregations in villages, surrounded 
by heathens, and where, perhaps, the members 
are mingled with them as neighbors, has been 
found a good initiatory step. These congrega- 
tions are composed principally of unbaptized 
persons, who profess their belief in Chris- 
tianity and desire of baptism, and who put 
themselves under instruction. The missionary, 
or some one in his place, teaches them ; and 
their children are gathered into a school. At- 
tention is paid to their wants, as to marriage, 
burial, etc., and they are expected to renounce 
idolatrous practices, keep the. Sabbath, and at- 
tend on public worship. When the members 
are enlightened, and appear to receive the truth 
in the love of it, they are baptized, and re- 
ceived to the church ; and their children are 
then baptized. The importance of these 



FORMATION OF CONGREGATIONS. 195 

associations is thus noticed by the Madura 
mission : 

a Why is it that congregations are organ- 
ized ? "Why not freely preach to all, and 
gather into churches those whom the Lord is 
pleased to convert ? To this we answer : It 
must be obvious, that minds sunk in the 
deep darkness of heathenism, cannot at once 
understand the mysteries of the gospel. The 
truth must be repeatedly explained and en- 
forced, and conscience and all the moral 
powers aroused and educated. Then convic- 
tion of sin and faith in Christ may follow. 

" But people, while heathen, will not give 
such attention to Christianity as to secure this 
result, nor can they without subjecting them- 
selves to the charge of apostac}^. For to at- 
tend our religious services regularly, or to ex- 
amine the Bible prayerfully, would imply, in 
the judgment of the community, a reception 
of the Christian faith. 

" Here is the necessity for Christian congre- 
gations. The people, while heathen, can be 
led to see that Christianity is better than 
idolatry. They can be persuaded to abandon 



196 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

the latter, arid receive the former. But con- 
gregations thus formed, will at first be un- 
stable. It would be unnatural that all who 
join them should stand firm in the time of 
persecution. The motives to go back are 
many. The power of public opinion, their 
own evil natures, and the snares of the devil, 
are all against them. It should, therefore, be 
expected, that a large proportion will return to 
their former faith. It is only after the image 
of Christ has, by the Holy Spirit, been in- 
wrought into the hearts of a portion of any 
community, that we can hope to see stability." 
The Deputation, already -frequently men- 
tioned, in calling special attention to that branch 
of missionary operations, did a good work. 
There had been too much delay in forming 
native churches in the villages removed from 
the principal stations, and putting them under 
native pastors. In some cases the mission- 
aries had not devolved a proper share of re- 
sponsibility on the native assistants, who, if 
not trusted, would probably never be prepared 
to bear it ; and, keeping them too much under 
their own shadow, had not given them space 



REMARKS OF THE DEPUTATION. 197 

and sunshine by which they might take root 
and stand by themselves. They had not 
room enough. This, in consequence of the 
visit, is being remedied. The Deputation say 
to the Bombay mission : 

" The report well expresses the grand and 
governing object of the American Board, in 
its plans, and in the distribution of its funds ; 
as being the conversion of sinners, the gather- 
ing of these converts into churches ; and the 
ordaining of native pastors over these churches. 
This was not always exactly the practical view 
which the Prudential Committee took of the 
duty of a missionary society. Their Eeports 
will show this. Once they aimed in their 
plans, more than now, at communities ; plan- 
ning for distant great results affecting the 
masses. They are now falling back upon the 
apostolical practice, and aiming directly at 
immediate conversions — the conversion of 
individuals — and at the multiplication of 
churches, with native pastors to work under 
supervision till the missionaries leave the 
field. It is our belief that greater spiritual 
results will be reached in this way than by 
17* 



198 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

any other. We have less to do now, than 
formerly with preparatory means, with pio- 
neering for the preached word, with mere civil- 
izing processes, with any thing and every thing 
not recognized by the Scriptures as our ap- 
pointed means of conversion through the 
agency of the Holy Spirit." 

Also to the Madura mission : 

" Mission churches obviously require the 
utmost simplicity of structure; and all that 
they require, and all that is good for them, 
may be learned from the New Testament. A 
local church is God's institution. So is the 
pastoral office. So are deacons, to do work 
from which pastors should be relieved. And 
a church thus organized on heathen ground in 
the New Testament simplicity of structure is, as 
all the New Testament churches were, a mis- 
sionary church, and belongs of right to none 
of the existing complicated denominations of 
Christendom. And never shall we know what 
such churches, in their full local development, 
will do and become in heathen lands, till we 
have made full proof of them ; till we bring 
them into an organized, active existence ; and 



ADMISSION TO THE CHURCH. 199 

throw responsibility upon them for self-govern- 
ment, self-support, and the propagation of the 
gospel. Nor are adverse theories on this sub- 
ject, before a bold confiding experiment has 
been made under favorable circumstances, en- 
titled to any weight." 

In regard to those who should be admitted 
to communion, the Bombay Mission make 
some judicious remarks : 

" Every person who gives evidence of true 
repentance for sin and faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ should be received into the Christian 
church. It is often difficult to determine in 
respect to particular individuals what con- 
stitutes sufficient evidence. Any thing which 
indicates that a man has forsaken his sins, that 
he loves the Saviour and desires to do his will 
and is willing to suffer for his sake, is import- 
ant evidence. It should be remarked that we 
very rarely see such deep contrition for sin, 
and such loathing of self on account of it, 
among the natives of this country, as is often 
exhibited among those who have known the 
Bible from their childhood. But when an 
individual manifests a love for the truth, a con- 



200 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

stant desire to hear and know it, an evident 
effort to do what is right, and this effort long 
continued, and especially when we see resist- 
ance to strong temptation or stedfastness under 
opposition and trial, then we may have con- 
fidence that he is a true child of God. Knowl- 
edge of the great doctrines of Christianity 
may be very limited and yet a man be a true 
Christian. If he exhibit evidence of a change 
of heart, his ignorance of these doctrines 
should not be a bar to his admission to the 
church. His knowledge or ignorance should 
be considered only so far as it is an evidence 
of conversion or otherwise. Distrust of the 
native character may sometimes 'prevent us 
from receiving individuals to the church who 
ought to be admitted. Distrust should not be 
allowed to prevail too far. There is danger 
of this from our general feeling in regard to 
the deceptive practices of the natives. And 
yet on the other hand, there may be too much 
credulity, and in consequence great rashness 
in receiving men to the church who are un- 
worthy. It is well for the missionary to put a 
great deal of the responsibility of receiving 



NATIVE MINISTEY. 201 

members to the church upon the native church 
members. It will be found almost invariably 
to work well. The native Christians gene- 
rally form a very correct opinion as to the cha- 
racter of those with whom they are daily con- 
versant. A native pastor will often judge 
more correctly, with regard to the character of 
a native candidate for church membership, than 
the missionary." 

This whole subject is one of the deepest 
interest. There may be differences of opinion 
as to the manner of raising up and qualifying 
an efficient native ministry, and as to the 
amount of responsibility or authority, which 
should be committed to it ; but there can be 
no doubt of its immense importance. We 
might as well talk of conquering and govern- 
ing India politically by foreigners, as to ex- 
pect to bring it into subjection to Christ by 
agents wholly from abroad. It is well known 
that India has been subdued, and is kept in 
order principally by an army of Sepoys ; offi- 
cered indeed in part by Britons, but an army 
principally of her own sons. 

In reference to preparation for the native min- 



202 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

istry, something has already been said in 
speaking of education in English, as desirable 
for some. This is not to be understood as ap- 
plying to all ministers, nor is it to be thought 
that all the pastors, of native churches should 
be trained for a length of time in any school. 
They may, after the manner of some Baptist 
and Congregational churches in England, be 
selected from the members of a church, as 
possessing piety and gifts, and after some 
private preparation, perhaps with a mission- 
ary, be called to the ministry. 

In regard to the preparation of native 
agents, the Arcot Mission in their letter to the 
Deputation, say, among other things : 

" They should have a street-education. We 
mean by this, that they should, in their pre- 
paratory training, accompany the missionary 
in his street-preaching. Thus they will learn 
his mode of presenting truth, his arguments, 
and his illustrations. These will open to them 
a fund of thought, will shape the working of 
their minds, and stimulate their natural powers 
to independent efforts in the same direction. 
They will acquire confidence and moral cour- 



NATIVE MINISTRY. 203 

age, so as to fear the face of no man. Their 
minds will be whetted, and brightened, and 
practically educated, to meet the various exi- 
gences of their office. This is the form of a 
theological seminary, which appears to us to 
come very near the one that our Lord insti- 
tuted." 

The Bombay Mission say : 

" The first assistants and teachers will need 
to be taught almost exclusively by the mis- 
sionary, for he has no one else to teach them. 
He has their training, as it were, in his own 
hands. He will take them with him to his 
preaching places, and on his tours. He will 
converse with them familiarly and freely upon 
the truths they read. His teaching should be 
mostly from the Bible itself. The knowledge 
of other related things can be communicated 
as may be requisite. In case of hopeful con- 
versions of persons who have such natural 
abilities that they afford a hope of being quali- 
fied for preachers and pastors, a more extended 
training will be required. They should be put 
upon a course of study. 

"In process of time we look, with the bless- 



204 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ing of Grod, for results which, will demand 
more training for assistants and teachers, than 
the missionary himself has time to give. There 
should be provision made for a school for 
catechists and teachers, as soon as there are 
proper candidates for such a school. They 
should be trained in the common branches of 
study. The Biblical element, however, should 
be the most prominent, and the training should 
be thorough in the Scriptures. One important 
object in bringing young men into such a 
school, would be to develope and strengthen 
their Christian character, to enable them to 
face the difficulties they will meet when placed 
by themselves, away from the station where 
missionaries reside and Christians are found — 
to be leaders of the flock. How many such 
schools there should be, and whether more 
than one in connection with any mission, 
must be left for future circumstances to decide. 
All we would now say is, there must be ade- 
quate provision for the education of catechists 
and teachers in every mission." 

The Deputation, in reply, write : 

" The manner of training native preachers 



FORMATIOK OF CHURCHES. 205 

indicated in the report, is precisely the one 
which the Prudential Committee desire to see 
carried out in the missions as far as may be ; 
less in seminaries, more in actual connection 
with the preaching missionary. Science, litera- 
ture, general knowledge, what is called a lib- 
eral education, are good and important ; but 
in educating our native preachers in this way 
among the heathen, we have often paid dear 
for the education ; and when obtained, have 
too often found that we had paid more than it 
was worth. Better dispense altogether with 
our theological seminaries among the heathen, 
for the present, if we cannot combine with our 
instruction an active training in the work of 
the ministry. Every missionary ought to feel, 
that his office constitutes him the gatherer of 
churches and the educator of preachers. Let 
it be our aim, depending on the Holy Spirit, 
to plant a church in every considerable village, 
and without delay to furnish every church, thus 
planted, with a pastor." 

As to the formation of churches, some re- 
marks may be quoted, both from the Madura 
and Ceylon missions. The former say : 



206 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

"The formation of churches is necessary to 
the continued existence and development of 
Christianity in any country, and especially is 
it suited to the condition of the Tamil people. 
The maxim that 'union is strength' is true 
in regard to Christianity, as it is in worldly 
things. An. army ever so numerous and 
brave, unless united and properly organized, 
could accomplish but little. So with the 
church militant. It must be united and pro- 
perly organized and watched over, or its sta- 
bility, strength, and aggressive influence, will 
never be developed ; nor can it in any way 
withstand the assaults of the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, but must fall before them. This 
assertion is not made irrespective of the power 
of the Holy Ghost, but in direct regard to that. 
This organization we consider the channel or 
means, through which the Spirit is to operate. 
If these organizations are necessary in a civil- 
ized and Christian land, how much more are 
they necessary in lands where the heathenism 
of ages has weakened the intellect, debased 
the moral character, destroyed the independ- 



FOBMATION OF CHUECHES. 207 

ence and self-respect, and assimilated the man 
to the brute." 

The Ceylon mission say : 

" The command of Christ, ' Go ye into all 
the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature,' though given directly to the apos- 
tles, is fully binding upon every Christian to 
the extent of his ability. It is also a principle 
"universally recognized that union of action 
and influence, gives increased pov/er; and 
hence it will appear that the missionary who 
seeks as rapidly and thoroughly as possible to 
carry on his aggressive movements against 
heathenism, must, in the prosecution of his 
work, gather the native converts into churches 
and unite their power as witnesses for the 
truth and as examples of faith and obedience 
to the principles of the gospel ; and in order 
that he may be relieved in part from care and 
responsibility, and be left more free to preach 
the gospel in other places, and to plant other 
churches, he will place over them native 
pastors, who will feed and watch over the 
flock." 

There would probably be much variety of 



208 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

judgment as to the extent to which missionaries 
should divest themselves of the pastoral care. 
Many, quoting the example of the apostles, 
who, after forming churches, committed them 
to the care of others, and passed on to new 
fields, seem to think that missionaries should 
seldom — and only in the early stages of their 
labors — retain the pastorate. But missionaries 
have not precisely the office or endowments 
of the apostles. They have not the discerning 
of spirits to guide them in the choice of agents 
to carry on the work which they may begin, 
nor the power of communicating the Holy 
Ghost by the laying on of hands. Nor do 
they, in India, find a people prepared of the 
Lord, as were most to whom the apostles went. 
The office of the apostles, and for which they 
were divinely inspired, was not only to extend 
Christianity to the unevangelized of a parti- 
cular country — as missionaries now endeavor, 
to do — but to establish it in the world as a 
new religion, and give it its proper form and 
rules ; both in the institution of churches, with 
proper officers and ordinances, and furnishing 
regulations for them, by giving the written 



ORDAINING NATIVES. 209 

gospels, and sending them inspired epistles. 
They had a higher work to perform than 
merely preaching — though it seems that this 
was committed to them rather than baptizing, 
for which Paul says, he was not sent, and 
consequently than the organizing of churches, 
to which preaching and baptism were initia- 
tory — and this was the completion of the Scrip- 
ture canon, and the " care of all the churches." 
Missionaries do not now readily find- — at 
least among the Hindus, however it may be 
among the Armenians, Nestorians, and others 
— a Timothy or a Titus to make a presbyter. 
Let these things be well borne in mind, and 
let them remember both the weakness of the 
Hindu character, and the peculiar temptations in 
every Hindu church to retain heathen customs 
and Hindu caste ; and then, while they feel the 
importance of " ordaining elders in every city," 
where a few believers are gathered, they will 
feel also the necessity of carefulness in select- 
ing " faithful men, who shall be able to teach 
others also." The ordained natives in Tanjore, 
who have had more or less responsibility in 
the church for a century past, have done little 
18* 



210 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

for its purification from either heathenish, caste 
or custom. Probably, in most cases, a mis- 
sionary in laying the " foundations for many 
generations/' and seeing to it that " hay, 
wood and stubble" are not built upon them, 
must not only oversee, but often put his own 
hand to the work. He must nurse, he must 
discipline, he must guide the infant church. 
He must, for some length of time, at least, 
be a pastor in reality, if not in name, both 
to the sheep and to the lambs. He must be 
gentle among them, as a nurse cherisheth her 
children. " He must exhort, reprove, rebuke, 
with all long-suffering and doctrine." He 
must " feed the flock of God." It is com- 
paratively an easy thing to gather a flock ; 
but, among the heathen, at least — let alone 
Christian lands — the tug of the battle is in 
keeping them together, and leading them into 
green pastures that they may grow thereby, 
and re-commend the Shepherd, so that others 
may join them. Above all things a witness- 
ing church is wanted ; and for the difficult ser- 
vice of training its members, not the lowest, 
but the highest gifts and graces will be found 



A WITNESSING CHURCH. 211 

needful. One living, spiritual church, divested 
of worldliness, warm with the love of Christ 
and of souls, with a pastor like Brainerd, or 
Martyn, or Payson, would do more to recom- 
mend and extend Christianity, than a dozen 
of the ordinary character, especially if the 
members felt, as they would be likely to do, 
under such training, that the " grand desidera- 
tum" as the Deputation express it, of foreign 
missions, "now is, that every convert should 
feel that, as a Christian, he is bound to declare 
the great salvation to his neighbors." 

With such exceptions as circumstances are 
found to require, the views expressed in the 
Bombay report, of the duty of the missionary, 
may be well adopted. 

" He must look beyond the mere pastorate 
of a church. He must endeavor to collect 
native churches in different places, and he 
must train up some of his converts to be the 
pastors of these churches. He should be pre- 
pared to commit the truths of the gospel to 
faithful men that they may teach them to others 
also. As they increase in knowledge of the 
distinctive doctrines of the gospel and in adap- 



212 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

tation to the work of making them known to 
others, he must give them the opportunity of 
exercising their talents, standing out of the 
way when necessary, that they may gradually 
be preparing to come forward and perform the 
duties of faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. 
He should ever himself be aiming at further 
extension, seeking how he may collect new 
churches and prepare pastors for them, thus 
making all his plans subserve the one "object 
of fully planting the gospel of Christ in the 
country where he "resides, by the establishment 
of churches, with their appropriate pastors and 
other officers. The missionary should feel it 
to be his business to go forward and find out 
where new churches can be established, collect 
the nucleus and then furnish the native laborer 
who shall carry on the work. * * * 

" Let not the missionary then regard him- 
self as a mere preacher or pastor of a native 
church, but rather as a trainer and educator 
of preachers. The work of preaching the gos- 
pel is indeed a glorious work ; how much 
more important and honorable, then, for the 
missionary, in addition to the work of preach- 



GROWTH OF THE NATIVE CHURCH. 213 

ing, to train others who shall proclaim the 
message of salvation to their countrymen." 

The spiritual growth of the native church, 
or improvement among its members, is — as 
previously mentioned — to be considered a first 
necessity. Contrary to what many suppose, 
that those who have been taken from the 
slough of gross idolatry, and all its untold and 
inconceivable abominations and wretchedness, 
will of course so remember the hole of the pit 
from whence they were digged, as always to 
dread an approach to it, and be filled with the 
liveliest gratitude and love at having had much 
forgiven, and escaped from much misery, they 
are found too often like a sow that is washed, 
ready again to wallow in the mire; and as 
much inclined to relapse into heathenism as 
the half-tamed savage is to return to the wild 
forest, or the partridge, which has been caught, 
but cannot be domesticated, to its native 
woods. There is in man always a tendency 
downwards. Some two or three generations 
must probably elapse before the Hindus, as a 
body, will be, what could be wished, entire 
Christians, in warp and woof, in the grain as 



214 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

well as in. the bark. The operations of the 
Holy Spirit, his renewing and sanctifying in- 
fluences, are by no means overlooked in giving 
this opinion. It is matter for rejoicing and 
praise that He has so wrought upon many that 
most delightful changes are manifest, and stout 
Christian characters are formed. But they are 
exceptions to the general rule ; and all are 
aware that, with much grace, the remains of 
constitutional temperament and previously- 
formed habits may be found among the real 
children of God in any and every land. 

Improvement of native Christians should, 
therefore, be earnestly studied. On this sub- 
ject some good remarks are made in the Cey- 
lon Eeport : 

" Certain leading vices may be specified as 
needing to be watched with vigilance, and 
certain improvements must be followed up 
with unwearied step. In this country, caste 
is an organized evil, directly contrary to the 
word of God, and while it exists, may never 
be unheeded. Polygamy is an evil thing in 
the heathen community, which not only may 
never receive any countenance, but the mis- 



FAMILY RELIGION. 215 

sionary and the native churches, in all points 
in which, they come in contact with it, must 
give clear and unequivocal manifestations of 
non-fellowship therewith. 

" The universal degradation of females de- 
mands special attention. They need the 
gospel to raise them, and special pains should 
be taken, by improving the conscience of the 
people and their Christian feelings, and by the 
word of God, to introduce habits and customs 
more in accordance with those of enlightened 
society and the laws of Christ's kingdom. The 
seating of the whole family at meals at once, 
or the asking of God's blessing on the food 
provided, would be a great improvement in 
itself, and very salutary in its bearings on all 
the social and domestic relations of native life. 
It would go further than almost any other 
single change towards introducing a taste and 
desire for the education of females. Social 
evils keep company with each other, and the 
general introduction of such a change as this 
would bring along a goodly number of attend- 
ant improvements. The family, as well as the 
church, is God's institution, and every needed 



216 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

improvement made here will be a well-spring 
of life. The maintenance of family worship, 
though difficult for unlearned heads of fami- 
lies, is a thing so nearly and intimately con- 
nected with house-hold religion, and house-hold 
religion is so intimately connected with the 
prosperity of the church, that it should be a 
matter of earnest effort ; and it may perhaps 
be well to inquire, whether daily religious 
services in the village congregations do, by 
coming in as a substitute, stand in the way of 
its introduction. But whatever the difficulties 
in the way may be, this must be regarded as a 
point of primary importance, and be sought 
after accordingly." 

The missionary has thus the high privilege 
of stamping his own image, in a measure, upon 
the converts and native preachers, who are to 
be his living epistle ; and in proportion as he 
bears the image of Christ, will God be glorified 
through him. He may multiply himself — he 
may live after death. Let him be a living, 
walking, shining temple of the Holy Ghost, 
and he will kindle up other shining lights in 
the midst of heathen darkness, and continue 



ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION". 217 

by the example left behind, a guiding beacon 
to all who may come after him. 



ECCLESIASTICAL ORGANIZATION. 

This has been left to the direction of each 
mission, and has sometimes approximated to 
the Congregational and sometimes the Presby- 
terian form, with such modifications as the 
state of infant churches in the midst of the 
heathen has seemed to require. Perhaps all 
the missionaries have found that these babes 
in Christ require more nursing by the pastor, 
more watchful care, and even control by him, 
than churches in a Christian land ; and that he 
cannot depend as much on the brethren at 
large, or even on ruling elders, as is custom- 
ary in Christian lands. Some modification of 
either of the above forms of church order, 
may, therefore, be expedient. But the plan 
proposed of making each mission, as such, an 
ecclesiastical body, seems liable to grave ob- 
jections. 

In speaking of the action of the Ceylon 
mission, Dr. Anderson, in a letter, dated Bat- 
19 



218 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ticotta, Ceylon, May 26, 1855, as published 
in the Missionary Herald of September of 
that year, says : 

" Early in their special meeting, they unan- 
imously voted to dissolve their ecclesiastical 
body, as unnecessarily complicating their sys- 
tem, and to do all their missionary work here- 
after by means of their simple missionary 
organization. This would leave the native 
churches to develop themselves wholly dis- 
tinct, and give the mission great advantages as 
an originating and presiding agency. But, in- 
asmuch as the missionary body was to stand 
thus separated from the native churches, the 
desire was awakened that a church might be 
formed of the missionaries and their families. 
Such a church was actually formed thirty-nine 
years ago by the first company ; of which but 
a single member now remains on the ground. 
It was resolved to organize the new church 
on the same confession and covenant with the 
old." 

The reason for voting to " dissolve their ec- 
clesiastical body," and do all their missionary 
work by means of their simple missionary 



ECCLESIASTICAL OEGANIZATION. 219 

organization, was that it unnecessarily compli- 
cated their system. There were two bodies, 
composed of the same persons, and it was 
thought unnecessary to have two. After 
transacting secular business, as a mission, to 
form themselves a-new as an ecclesiastical 
body, in order to regulate their church affairs, 
seemed to complicate their business " un- 
necessarily." But the mission included two 
laymen, who, unless made deacons or eld- 
ers, would not belong to an ecclesiastical 
body — nor then except as delegates ; and, 
on the other hand, the native pastors, as 
ordained men, might be members of an eccle- 
siastical body, having an equal voice with the 
missionaries in matters purely spiritual, while 
they could not with propriety be made mem- 
bers of the mission, and have a vote in the 
disposal of funds entrusted only to those sent 
out by the board. There are reasons against 
the latter, in view of a large number of pas- 
tors being ordained, so as to out-vote the 
missionaries, which do not exist against the 
former, because temptations to abuse in secular 
matters are greater than in those purely spirit- 



220 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ual ; and though, the native pastors, by their 
ordination, are made equal to the missionaries, 
as officers in the Church of Christ, they are 
not by ordination made agents of a missionary 
society, and entrusted with its funds. It is 
important to keep church and state, or the 
secular and spiritual, distinct ; whatever form 
of church goverment be adopted. 

If the ordained pastors are neither members 
of the mission, nor of an ecclesiastical body, 
they can have no voice in church matters, ex- 
cept each one in his own pastorate ; and in 
that, even, he would be controlled by the mis- 
sion, so long as dependent on it for funds. 
If made self-supporting, each church would be 
independent of every other, and also of the 
mission. Whatever of caste, or other heathen 
custom, should be introduced, neither the 
missionaries nor other brethren could inter- 
fere. The effect of this would probably be 
that such churches would become thorns in 
the sides of the missionaries. On the one 
hand they would be too dependent when 
under the control of the mission, and on the 
other too independent of all control, before 



CONCLUSION". 221 

capable of self-government, when able to sup- 
port their pastor. The objection to the same 
persons constituting two different bodies, as a 
mission and an association or presbytery, has 
little weight, as it constantly occurs in delib- 
eratiye assemblies, even in Congress, and the 
parliament of Great Britain, 

CONCLUSION. 

The writer of these hints has been glad 
whenever he has found that he could fortify 
his own views by those of the honored Depu- 
tation, whose decision he has sometimes quoted, 
or the esteemed missionaries, with most of 
whom he has the pleasure of somewhat inti- 
mate acquaintance. Wherein he has in any 
degree differed from them, it has been with 
great deference, and only because his own ex- 
perience and personal observation for many 
years, could not always be made to give the 
same results as theirs. There is another cir- 
cumstance, also, to be considered in reference 
to some differences, apparent, rather than real. 

The Deputation confined themselves, almost 
19* 



222 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

exclusively, to the consideration of rural mis- 
sions, or the state and prospect of missions in 
country places, in distinction from large cities, 
the centres of commerce and government. 
The missions which they visited are nearly all 
in such more retired parts ; and they seem in- 
clined to adopt the policy of continuing the 
efforts of the Board, principally — it is hoped 
not exclusively — in the country rather than in 
the town. The hints, however, are intended 
for both, and so to cover a larger surface than 
was brought into view in most of the reports, 
and the remarks upon them. That the cities 
should not be abandoned by all even of the 
American churches, or the forms of operation 
more peculiar to them, be discouraged, may, 
perhaps, be satisfactorily shown in connection 
with these few closing remarks. 

In regard to the missions in Bombay and 
Madras, however discouraging they may be 
comparatively, and as to immediate results, in 
regard to churches and pastors, they have a 
two-fold importance, arising from benefits con- 
ferred upon the natives, or their direct mis- 
sionary bearing; and as connected with the 



MADRAS MISSION". 223 

sions in the country — or their direct use- 
fulness. Concerning Madras, it is said in the 
statement : 

" In Madras, though, there are now only 
fifty- three members of the churches in com- 
munion, there have been in eighteen years 
more than twice that number, or one hundred 
and twelve ; and hundreds upon hundreds of 
children and youth of both sexes have been 
taught the Scriptures, of whom several, not 
only from the high school, but the vernacular 
schools, have been baptized ; some in this 
mission, and more in other communions ; one 
of them as far off as Belgaum. 

"Besides, in estimating the good done, it 
should be considered that the mission has 
been to some extent, what it was first designed 
to be, a book-making mission, and an agency 
of the American Bible and Tract Societies. 
More than twenty tracts and books, larger and 
smaller, have been prepared and sent forth, 
some of them in large editions, besides what 
have been printed for the local Tract Society. 
This has required a good deal of the time of 
one of the missionaries in the getting of them 



224 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

up, and of the other in their distribution. 
Editions of the Scriptures, in whole or part, 
in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindustani, have also 
been brought out; and one missionary has 
spent much time in preparing some of these, 
and in the work of revising and translating 
the Tamil Scriptures, as well as in the pre- 
paration of the Tamil and English dictionary. 

" The mission is also to be considered as an 
agency of the Board, to supply the mission at 
Jaffna, Madura, and Arcot, with funds and 
with articles needed from Madras; and also 
to help on their way those who arrive for 
these missions, or depart from them for Amer- 
ica. The saving to the board in the article of 
funds, is more than equal to the salary of a 
missionary, year by year. 

" The laborers in the work, on an average, 
for the eighteen and a half years, are about 
two and a half missionaries for each year, ex- 
clusive of the superintendent of the press." 

In reference to Bombay, much longer 
established, and better manned, far more 
might no doubt be said. These missions, it is 
thought, are quite necessary to the best pros- 



CHANGES IK THE COUNTRY. 225 

perity of those in the country, which are, in 
some respects, 'dependent on them. Will it 
then be politic to establish any rules for mis- 
sions, which would prevent operations in such 
places ? There must be some variety in 
talents and acquirements among those sent 
out, and why not have some variety in the 
field and the kinds of labor ? It will not do 
to place a Procrustean bed, and bring all 
shapes and lengths to fit it, by stretching 
some, and cutting off others. There is no 
reason why a missionary society should have 
a stereotyped plan, or theory, for all its mis- 
sions in India. The circumstances of different 
parts of the field are very different, and the 
country itself is greatly changing its aspect ; 
being at length, in many places, in a transition 
state. Eailroads have been introduced on the 
land, and steamers along the coast, and electric 
telegraphs communicating intelligence with the 
speed of lightning, from one end of the coun- 
try to the other. Canals are being formed to 
aid inter-communication in various parts of 
the country ; anicuts, or giant dams, with ex- 
tended water-courses, are being constructed 



226 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

to control, and retain when necessary, the 
waters of large rivers, and make them use- 
ful for the double purpose of navigation, and 
for irrigating the fields ; and the charter of 
the East India Company being altered, it is 
no longer altogether a close corporation, but 
many of its offices are open to competition, 
even by the natives, and the benefits of a more 
liberal government are beginning to be en- 
joyed. The " schoolmaster is abroad," and 
the English language, in connexion with the 
vernaculars, is becoming the language of all 
the government offices and the courts of law, 
instead of the Persian and Arabic ; and Eu- 
ropean science is disseminated even by the 
government itself. All these changes, and 
notes of change, from the shrill scream of the 
steam-whistle to the conning of the alphabet 
by brahmans and soodras, and even pariahs, 
on the same form, are telling upon the Hindu 
mind, and working great revolutions in all his 
long-settled opinions. Eeal science is destroy- 
ing his confidence in his sacred books, and 
brahmans, and idols. Even the barrier of 
caste, so long thought impregnable, begins to 



MARKS OF PROGRESS. 227 

give way through, the combined influences of 
education, intercourse with foreigners, and 
Christianity. The brahmans who used to ex- 
pel permanently all who had broken caste, by 
eating with one of lower caste, or even drink- 
ing water from the same vessel with one, or 
with a foreigner, have lately contrived means 
for re-instating those who have left them. A 
fine paid to the brahmans, with some ceremo- 
nies, such as burning the tongue, and causing 
them to swallow the five products of the cow, 
the urine, dung, milk, etc., will now restore 
the revolter again to caste. This is a tribute 
to the influence of light, and the power of 
truth, in making converts to Christianity; the 
number of whom has alarmed the brahmans. 
It, however, increases the facilities for conver- 
sion, while it lessens its security. It is one of 
the signs of progress, and at the same time an 
element of change. The suttee, or burning 
of widows alive, is abolished ; female infanti- 
cide is forbidden ; the re-marriage of widows is 
beginning to be advocated even by natives ; 
the ceremony of cheddul, or swinging high in 
the air on hooks passed through the integu- 



228 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

ments of the back ; treading on beds of coals, 
running strips of bamboo through the flesh of 
the arms and sides, and other self-tortures are 
discountenanced, and in some places prohib- 
ited. The connection of government with 
idolatry, is being withdrawn ; the brahmans 
have lost their prestige as government em- 
ployees, in the offices — to the exclusion of 
other castes — by the more general spread of 
learning ; and among the educated young men, 
great numbers have renounced idol worship, 
who have not embraced Christianity. 

Progress is thus beginning to be the order 
of the day, and though it does not, as yet, 
affect the retired and rural sections of the 
country very sensibly, it does greatly influx 
ence the more central portions, and requires 
that missionary efforts in them should be 
adapted to these changes. The spirit of prog- 
ress must be seized upon and guided by such 
1 as are qualified for the work, and are in a 
position to bring about good results, or its 
course will be evil. For this, the missionary 
needs, in the towns, the aids of education and 
the press. Without these, and confining him- 



IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH. 229 

self only to preaching, he will lack some of 
the essential elements of influence. He can- 
not, efficiently, bring his mind into contact 
with that of the Hindu; intent on other things, 
cannot get access to any extent to the higher 
classes, or at all to respectable females ; and 
therefore he is neglected, and his mission is 
unknown. By teaching English at small ex- 
pense, and principally by means of teachers 
employed for moderate pay, while he gives 
himself principally to the missionary work in 
the vernaculars, he may have large classes of 
select native youths, both male and female, 
of all castes, under his instruction, in the 
Scriptures, as well as in science, in the com- 
mon-school, Sunday-school, and church ; and 
he will be able to take advantage of the spirit 
of change at work, and to direct the teachable 
minds of the young in the ways of godliness. 
God has also blessed these schools with pre- 
cious revivals of religion. 

Without advantages like the above, how is 

he himself to meet opposers, and to train his 

native assistants to confute the learned infidels 

of the Volney, and Voltaire, and Hume schools, 

20 



280 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

and the subtle brahmans, who can split a hair 
in metaphysics, and crawl through the small- 
est knot-hole when cornered in an argument. 
And how are they to overthrow the time- 
indurated fortifications of caste, contend with 
a priesthood accounted divine, bring into dis- 
repute books supposed to contain revelations 
from the gods on religion, morals, law, physic, 
geography, astronomy, astrology, and every 
thing necessary to be known ; and change the 
whole course of life of a whole people, whose 
every action, almost, is guided by religion or 
superstition ? How is he to do this, with the 
obstacles to be overcome, mentioned in the 
former parts of these Hints, and while the 
religion to be supplanted falls in with every 
natural inclination and lust of his heart, as 
well as the example of all his ancestors and 
co-temporaries, and that which he is asked 
to embrace calls for constant self-denial, and 
exposes to shame and persecution? It is not 
forgotten that the Holy Spirit can enable a 
Hindu to overcome the obstacles in his path, 
to tear himself away from all that is naturally 
dear to him ; to stem the current of public 



MEANS NECESSARY. 231 

opinion, to bear ridicule and persecution in 
order to save his soul ; but that same Holy 
Spirit usually works by means — and means 
proportionate to the end. A David may be 
raised up of God to kill a Goliath with a 
pebble from a sling, but in the ordinary course 
of warfare such pebbles would not kill even 
common soldiers. Is there no lesson to be 
learned from the dealings of God with the 
Israelites, whom He led through the wilder- 
ness, and disciplined for forty years, that they 
might be prepared to enter Canaan? If it 
were an easy thing to raise up a witnessing 
church in the midst of the heathen, would 
God have taken so expensive and extended a 
course as He did to establish the Jewish 
nation, as the depositaries of his truth in the 
earth ? What long preparations, what impres- 
sive manifestations ! Was the work too great 
for the purpose intended ? We must be con- 
vinced that it is a great work to bring a nation 
to God, and that, as in the natural world, so in 
the moral, great operations are of slow develop- 
ment. God has given his people the means of 
overthrowing some of the strongholds of Hin- 



232 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

chrism by the communication of true science, 
which is destructive of the authority of the 
shasters. The} 7 can be demonstrated to be 
false. Is that an advantage to be discarded, 
as of no use? He has also put them in a 
position to bring the light of history to bear 
upon caste and custom, and the influence of 
all the arts of advanced civilization to disa- 
buse the Hindu mind of its fancied sense 
of superiorit} 7 , and to scatter the clouds which 
have settled upon it for centuries. Shall they 
not do this ? 

He has brought the apathetic Hindus under 
the influence of an energetic race, and in the 
position of pupils, willing to read and study 
the Scriptures, which contain the germ of all 
social, as well as religious blessings, on the 
condition that they may also be taught the 
English language. If there be not some evil 
in such teaching, most certainly it is a duty to 
teach it, for the benefits to be obtained. If it 
were only innocent though not useful, if it did 
not afford the key to most valuable knowledge 
and enlarge the mind, all would say, " Let it 
be taught for the collateral benefits." But the 



CITIES NOT TO BE NEGLECTED. 233 

objector may say it is not innocent, it unfits the 
student for the missionary work. Then does a 
university education in Christian lands, and we 
must say, "Blessed be ignorance, it is the 
mother of devotion." We must join the 
preacher, who thanked God that he under- 
stood only one language, and was hardly able 
to read that ! No, the remedy is not in ceasing 
to educate in the cities, but in educating pro- 
perly, and in not attempting to make town and 
country in every respect alike, merely because 
in both the gospel only is the power of Grod 
unto salvation. The question is how to make 
the gospel known in each. Even in Christian, 
lands, ministers most useful in country places, 
may fail entirely in cities. 

Still, it may be said, " Why attack the large 
towns, the high places of heathenism, where 
Satan's seat is? Why not go to a simple- 
minded people, a rural population, pass in and 
out before them, become acquainted with 
them, and convince all that you seek their 
good. You may be known among them and 
not lost, as you would be among the masses 
of a crowded population. They will listen 
20* 



234 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

to you. You may, in such places, gather 
churches and appoint pastors." Yery well, and 
so let many, so let most do. It is right, it is 
well. But while this is done, let not the 
other be left undone. The city is the heart 
of the country. Whatever you do at the ex- 
tremities, if the heart remain corrupt, your 
efforts will, in the end, be counteracted. Let 
there go from the town a healing influence, 
and the country will be healed. Let a poison- 
ous current issue from these centres, and all 
around them will wither and die. The apos- 
tles did not turn from Corinth, or Bphesus, or 
Philippi, or even Eome, because of the pecu- 
liar wickedness of these places, and the obsta- 
cles to be overcome. Nor must modern mis- 
sionaries neglect the large towns because the 
country is of easier cultivation. Neither must 
they seek only immediate results. These are 
important, no doubt, to keep the church alive, 
most of whose members require the stimulus 
of success. Perhaps the church, generally, is 
getting to be impatient, because so little is 
done, especially in India. If this impatience 
excited to prayer and self-denial, and more 



CULTIVATION" NECESSARY. 235 

vigorous exertions on comprehensive plans 
and fixed principles, it would turn to good 
account. If it lead only to turning from one 
expedient to another, and seeking an easy 
field of labor, and quick returns, without re- 
gard to far-reaching results, it will defeat its 
object. If the whole field is to be cultivated, 
then " Indian planting," as it is called — or stir- 
ring the earth a little, here and there, in some 
places, and dropping in a seed-corn while the 
trees and brush around are left to thrive and 
overshadow the springing grain- — will not 
answer. All must turn to and engage ear- 
nestly in felling the tall trees, grubbing up 
the roots, removing the under-brush, gathering 
out the stones, forming channels for water, and 
converting the wilderness into a garden ; and 
this must be done everywhere, be the obsta- 
cles ever so great. Blessed be God there is no 
jungle of heathenism, even in India, which 
shall be found impervious to the gospel-plough, 
when, with needed aids, it is guided in faith, 
and in due dependence on the Spirit of all 
grace ; and no strong towers of lying idolatry, 
even in the seats of pride and power, which the 



236 HINTS ON INDIAN MISSIONS. 

truth of God, with all the appliances provided 
by his providence, shall not be found mighty to 
overthrow. It may be the duty of American 
Christians to direct their energies principally to 
rural places, but if they wholly neglect the 
towns, the expostulation of Mordecai to Esther, 
may be applicable to them: " If thou alto- 
gether holdest thy peace, at this time, then 
shall their enlargement and deliverance arise 
from another place, but thou shalt suffer loss." 



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